Take some gorund meat (I used ground pork but sausage would be good too) and saute with evoo. I added S & P and some dried herbs but I'd skip that if I was using sausage. Remove it from the pan once browned, but don't drain whatever oil you have leftover. Chop a bunch of eggplant (we had at least a pound of the dark purple Japanese variety - fresh picked from our "farm") and saute in the pan for at least 10 minutes, letting them shrink and brown. Add a little S & P as the cook and toss regularly. Chop a small hot pepper or add some hot pepper flakes (I did both) and add them after the eggplant has reduced and softened. Also chop some cloves of garlin and add once the eggplant is very tender (so the garlic doesn't burn). Then chop a whole heap of tomatoes - I used mostly romas since that's what we grew, but any type would be fine, I'm sure. Add the tomatoes and stir. Reduce heat and stir back in the pork and the juice from that. Put a lid on and let those tomatoes soften and the whole mixture become tender - kinda like a ratatouille (how the heck do you spell that word?). Boil water and cook some pasta - a short shape that is curly will hold the most sauce. When the pasta is ready, chop a lot of fresh basil and mix it in. Then mix pasta and sauce and eat!
Yum yum. And all the ingredients except garlic and oil were local - or homegrown! Hooray!
Notes and Next Time
Ingredients/Recipe
