Ellen made this last night from her mother’s recipe, a tasty variation on traditional tomato sauce. It’s one of the easiest eggplant recipes I’ve seen. When buying the eggplant, look for one with firm, shiny purple skin, more tube shaped than pear shaped. It should be white when cut, not browning.
EGGPLANT SAUCE FOR PASTA
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
1 medium eggplant, peeled and diced
15-ounce can diced tomatoes
15-ounce can tomato sauce
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
Heat two tablespoons of the oil in a small pan and saute garlic and parsley a minute or two. Do not brown garlic. Place remaining oil in a large pot and saute the eggplant until lightly browned. Add more oil if needed to keep from sticking. Add garlic/parsley, tomatoes, sauce, water, salt, sugar and basil. Cover and simmer 45 minutes, or until eggplant is tender. Serve over pasta of your choice, top with grated Parmesan or Romano cheese. Makes about 4 servings, can be doubled or tripled and frozen for later.
I typically make my own basic homemade vegetarian pasta sauce in massive quantity about twice a year and then freeze it in quart bags. My wife’s a vegetarian (as was I for 3 years before I became a “gym rat” and had no choice but to return to animal protein) so I’ll have to give this a shot!
~N