Day 45: Whole-Wheat Penne with Roasted Eggplant and Ricotta Cheese

I like to ask people what's their favorite cookbook because, as home cooks know, it ain't a good cookbook until someone you trust who has used it for years tells you it's a good cookbook. A while back, a nice lady who lives in Kenilworth told me that her favorite cookbook, hands down, was "Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen" by Lidia Bastianich, of PBS series fame (the book is available here). I don't actually know this woman well, but I spied her chubby husband and her floor-to-ceiling bookshelf, which was packed with well thumbed and spattered cookbooks. It took me, like, three years to get around to buying it but I finally did. This is the first recipe I've tried and I've now done it three times. It took me most of last night to finish the thing and so, yeah, don't try to "whip it up." It's pretty easy and probably best eaten right after you've cooked it (it's a baked pasta -- I put it in a 13 x 9 pan overnight and cooled it. It took 40 minutes in a 350 degree oven to merely take the chill off it. I resorted to nuking it for four minutes before putting it under the broiler to melt some cheese on the top. Ugh! So, please, learn from my dumb-ass mistakes).

Ziti with Roasted Eggplant and Ricotta Cheese (I use penne because it's more available in whole wheat)

2 large firm eggplants (each about 3 inches in diameter and 1 1/4 pounds)
2 tablespoons coarse salt, plus more for cooking the pasta and seasoning the sauce
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
One 35-ounce can peeled Italian plum tomatoes (packed in JUICE, not puree), lightly crushed, with their liquid
1 teaspoon crushed hot red pepper

Salt

1 pound ziti
1 cup grated Parm-Reg
1 cup fresh basil, shredded
1/2 pound (1 cup) fresh ricotta cheese or packaged whole-milk ricotta
8 ounces imported Fontina cheese, sliced thin or you can grate it yourself

1. Trim the eggplants, wash them, etc. Remove strips of peel about 1 inch wide from the eggplant, leaving about half the peel intact. Cut the eggplant into 1-inch cubes. Toss in a large bowl with 2 tablespoons coarse salt. Dump into a colander and let drain for 1 hour.

2. Rinse the eggplant under cool running water, drain, thoroughly, and pat dry. Turn on the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

3. Brush a baking sheet with 3 tablespoons of oil and toss the eggplant cubes to coat (I did this in a mixing bowl, which was easier and required less oil). Spread them out in an even layer. Bake until the eggplant is very tender and browned, about 25 minutes. Turn and stir the eggplant once or twice during baking so they cook evenly.


4. Bring 6 quarts of water to a boil for cooking your pasta.

5. Heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Scatter the garlic and cook, shaking the pan, until golden, about 3 minutes. Pour in the crushed tomatoes, add the pepper flakes, and lightly season with salt. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer, and let cook for 10 minutes.


6. Make your pasta per bag instructions. Drain the pasta and return it to the pot over low heat. Pour in all but about 1/4 cup of the sauce, and toss lightly to coat. Remove the pot from the heat, and stir in 3/4 cup of the Parmigiano-Reggiano and the basil. Gently stir in the eggplant. Add the ricotta by the heaping teaspoonfuls, stirring it gently into the pasta; you want the ricotta to heat but you do not want it to blend with the sauce completely.


7. If baking, do this: into a 13 x 11 baking dish or pan, dump in about half of the mixed pasta, drop spoonfuls of the ricotta around, top each mound of cheese with a spoonful of the reserved sauce; and (CORRECTION HERE FOLLOWS! I missed a step...) cover with the remaining amount of mixed pasta (i.e. the pasta coated with sauce and mixed with the eggplant, parm-reg, and basil). Bake for 20 minutes or so to heat through, then sprinkle with liberal handfuls of grated Fontina, and broil for about 10 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and browned. Belissimo! Thanks, Lidia!

The kids said YUMMY and even ate the eggplant.