Sometimes Simple is Just Best- Pasta with Eggplant and Marinara

I'm behind on my blogging. Very behind. I have several good excuses, however. I started a new job, I spent two weeks cramming like mad for the Foreign Service Test, and I celebrated two of the most important Jewish Holidays of the year. Still, that doesn't change the fact that I've not been blogging and that's rather unfortunate. I'm now back at it and intend to stay that way!

My favorite smells in the world are fresh basil and freshly ground coffee (not at the same time, of course). Coffee, luckily, is something I can smell all-year-round in the States, but basil is about to slip out of my life for some months. I already miss it.

Georgia changes seasons a little later than the northern parts of our beautiful country, so it's only in the last week or so that we've started to experience real fall. The recipe I'm posting today was a supper cooked right on the edge of summer, peaking over into autumn, but it's the sort of thing that's good any time and super easy to throw together. To be perfectly honest, this isn't even the sort of thing I'd typically use a recipe for. It's more of a formula that can be changed up as needed to accomodate different vegetables and the like.

Ingredients
-1 lb box pasta of choice (I prefer shapes to spaghetti-type noodles for this sort of chunkier sauce)
-2-3 TBS olive oil
-3-4 Japanese eggplant, ends trimmed, cut into strips (I prefer Japanese eggplant, but traditional round eggplant will also work)
-dried basil and oregano (for the eggplant)
-2-3 medium tomatoes
-1-2 small peppers (red are great if you have them, but whatever works for you)
-2-4 cloves of garlic, minced
-sprigs of fresh basil, leaves removed and cut or torn into smaller pieces
-1-2 cups of commercial tomato sauce or 1 can of diced or pureed tomatoes, undrained
-salt and pepper to taste
-parmesan cheese, to serve


Procedure
-Prepare the eggplant: preheat the oven to 450°F, brush some olive oil onto a baking sheet, and place the eggplant strips on top. Brush the strips with more olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper, dried basil, and dried oregano. Use a spatula to flip the strips around and try to get an even coat. Bake 15-20 minutes, until soft and slightly crispy. If the outsides are too pale for your liking, you can use the broiler for a few minutes at the end, but watch carefully so they don't burn!
-While the eggplant is baking, put up a pot of water to boil and prepare the pasta. 

-Chop the peppers and tomatoes into medium-sized chunks (large dice, perhaps)
-Heat a saucepan and swirl in about a tablespoon of olive oil, along with a bit of salt (kosher or other coarse is great, if you have it)
-Add the garlic and cook over medium-low heat, letting it slowly cook without browning. After a minute or two, add the peppers and cook together, then throw in the chopped tomatoes and basil. 


-Let simmer for a few minutes until the vegetables start to break down somewhat but the peppers retain a bit of crunch.
-Stir in the canned sauce or tomatoes. I almost always use tomatoes for this, but it so happened that when I made this a couple weeks ago we had half a can of tomato sauce that really needed using up. If you're using canned tomatoes, you'll likely want to add more salt and perhaps more oregano, and a little drizzle of balsamic or red wine vinegar is lovely.
-Leave to cook for another few minutes, until warm and bubbly. Season to taste.
-Mix the drained pasta with the eggplant and sauce and serve with grated cheese, and perhaps a fresh-baked loaf of sourdough.