Eggplant Pasta Sauce

Perhaps you have heard of Meatless Monday, a campaign to improve our health and reduce our carbon footprint by removing meat from our diet for one day a week. Well, I am not committed enough to eating vegetarian every Monday, but I like the idea of eating healthy and being environmentally friendly without committing to a life of no bacon. So, I try to eat 5 vegetarian meals (lunch or dinner) a week.

This is the first time that I made this pasta sauce, it is full of a flavor, texture, and heartiness that I did not expect in a vegetarian pasta sauce. I received inspiration for this dish from Saveur's Pasta Alla Norma and from a zucchini pasta sauce from The Best in Australia -- S1E1, but I don't think this dish is like either of them. I used Japanese eggplants, because in this type of dish, I like to have a bit of skin on all of my eggplant pieces. The standard Italian eggplant should work fine, but you will have a large number of pieces without any skin, also note one Italian eggplant is equivalent to two Japanese eggplants. Serves 2 people.

Eggplant Pasta Sauce:

Ingredients for Eggplant Pasta Sauce

• 2 Japanese Eggplants 
• 1/2 onion, chopped 
• 1 Tbsp olive oil 
• 2 Tbsp Tomato Paste 
• 1 clove Garlic, smashed. 
• 1 can Diced tomatoes, no salt added 
• Salt and Pepper to taste 
• ~1" piece of Parmesan Reggiano Rind 
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan Reggiano 
• Oregano, to taste 
• Thyme, to taste 
• 1 bay leaf 
• 2-3 cups Water 

Chop eggplants into about 3/4" cubes, lightly salt. (Salting will draw out some of the moisture and reduce bitterness).

Sauté the onions in oil over medium-high heat in the saucepan. Cook for 5 or 6 minutes until translucent, add the garlic and let it caramelize it in a hot spot, then stir in a couple tablespoons of water and cook the onions and garlic together for a minute or two.

Reduce heat to medium-low, add the eggplant pieces to the pan, turn to coat the pieces with the oil and sautéed onion and garlic. Cook for 12-15 minutes uncovered, stirring and turning the eggplant frequently. If the pan gets dry and the pieces start to brown, stir in several spoons of water. The eggplant chunks should become soft, but still retain their shape.

Pour in the diced tomatoes, tomato paste and 1 cup of water. Add spices and parmesan rind, let simmer for about a half hour, stirring and adding more water if it gets too thick (I like gradually adding the water, so if the eggplants cook faster than expected, I can still have my sauce a proper consistency). Eggplants should be very tender but not mush. Sprinkle on the parmesan reggiano and stir to blend everything together.

Remove bay leaf before serving. You can remove the garlic, but I find that it is a special treat to who ever ends up with it.

Serve over spagetti or linguini and enjoy!