Nightshade Pasta with Basil Garlic Bread

Day 191

This was inspired by my craving for eggplant, which is my new food love. I regret not keeping track of amounts, etc, because I didn't follow a recipe and was tossing stuff into it willy nilly, but I did my best to record how I made it after the fact. I'm sure there is room for many variations, anyway.

Nightshade Pasta with Basil Garlic Bread

Nightshade Pasta

Laura gave this dish its moniker due to the fact that tomatoes, peppers and eggplant are all nightshades.

Ingredients

1 eggplant, chopped
Coarse salt
3 tbsp olive oil
4 oz mushrooms, chopped
1 red pepper, coarsely chopped
3 tomatoes, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cubes basil/olive oil
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
5 tbsp sugar

Nightshade pasta ingredients

Directions

1. Chop the eggplant and sprinkle with the coarse salt. Let sit a few hours until some of the moisture drains out, then rinse off the salt and put it in a stock pot with 3 tbsp olive oil. Turn heat to medium and begin browning the eggplant. Meanwhile, wash and coarsely chop the mushrooms and pepper and add them to the hot pan with the eggplant. Sauté until moisture is mostly reduced and all vegetables are tender. 
2. Boil water for the pasta.
3. Wash and chop the tomatoes. Mince the garlic and create a well in the veggies and add the garlic to the pot so it is touching bottom. Allow to cook that way about 15 seconds, then give them a little stir - still touching the pan - and cook a bit more. When they smell fragrant they can be mixed in with the other veggies and the tomatoes can be added right away. Add the vinegar and sugar and cook for about 15 minutes until flavors are melded. 
4. Add the pasta to the pot of boiling water and allow to cook while the vegetables are cooking. 
5. Add the basil to the vegetable mixture - which is now like a chunky sauce - and stir it in well. Add the cooked pasta.

Nightshade pasta

Serve with parmesan and garlic bread (see my fantastic recipe below).

Basil Garlic Bread

I know I said that other recipe was the best garlic bread ever, but it just got booted out of first place.

Ingredients

1/2 loaf Italian bread
1/4 cup butter
2 cubes basil/olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup parmesan
Shredded mozzarella

Directions

Slice loaf in half lengthwise, and reserve half for another time. Maybe toss it in the freezer if you don't plan to use it in the next day or so. Mix all the other ingredients together and spread on the bread.

Italian bread spread with basil/garlic butter

Broil under the broiler for about 5 minutes until lightly browned on top.

Basil Garlic Bread

Nightshade Pasta with Basil Garlic Bread

Reviews/Comments

Oh. Mah. Gawwwd. This was amazing as heck. I have to totally give it a 10 and Laura gave it an 11.