Pasta with eggplant
I just returned from a trip to Italy and am looking for a good recipe for this. the food was just amazing there and I would like to make the dish at home.
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As Escondido said, there are lots of versions. One I like is to dice eggplant, season with salt and pepper, then brown in olive oil until almost fully cooked and remove (I like to start it ahead of time since I find that eggplant can be fussy and I don't like it if it's not thoroughly cooked, but I also don't like it mushy. This helps control it). Chop a few shallots and throw into the same pan in olive oil. Cook until they are sweating, then add a few chopped cloves of garlic. Cook for about a minute, then crumble in some high-quality pork sausage (I hate to say it, but you need the pork here. Turkey wouldn't cut it). When the sausage is almost cooked throw, empty in a jar of petite diced tomatoes, season with basil, oregano, salt and pepper and cook until the tomatoes break down (this time of year, you can use fresh tomatoes too). Once the sauce is cooked to taste, add back in the eggplant and finish cooking it until it's nicely soft. You may need to add a bit of pasta cooking liquid once you toss everything together, so hold onto some. Oh yeah - a good amount of parm on top makes the dish.
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