2 Pint of variety cherry tomatoes or roma tomatoes halved
3 small eggplants sliced in 1/2" thick slices
3 baby fennel (regular fennel is OK if baby fennel is unavailable) whole if its baby or
1/2” thick slices if regular size
2 garlic cloves, crushed
6 Tb. olive oil
1/2 cup dry white wine
Fresh basil (no measurements, use as much
or as little as you want)
Salt and pepper to taste
Combine tomatoes, 2 tablespoons of olive oil,
salt and pepper in a bowl, toss to coat and
spread on a cookie sheet. Bake in a preheated
oven at 375 until tomatoes are wrinkled (about
20 minutes, depending on the efficiency of
your oven, it might be more), while tomatoes
are roasting, coat eggplant and fennel with
2 tbs. of olive oil, salt & pepper and a small
handful of fresh basil.
Prepare grill and grill until they’re a golden
brown color. Remove from grill and allow to
cool, once cooled, julienne slice the vegetables
and set aside in a bowl. Get water boiling for
the pasta, add a good handful of salt.
While the water is boiling, heat a sauté pan
over medium flame, add remaining 2 tbls.
of oil allow oil to get hot and add crushed
garlic, sauté for 15 seconds, add roasted
tomatoes, cook for 2 minutes, then add the
fennel and eggplant.
Stir to combine and increase heat to until you
hear sizzling, add white wine (you might want
to move pan away from flame to avoid flare
ups), and a scoop of pasta water, salt and
pepper to taste and cook for about 10 minutes.
While this is cooking, the pasta water should
be rapidly boiling, toss in the pasta (I like
Goddess Waves in this recipe) and cook for
11/2 minutes. Drain pasta (or use strainer to
move from water to sauce) add to sauté pan,
combine all ingredients, allow pasta to cook
for another 20 seconds, toss in a handful of
chopped basil, and plate.
Top with some freshly grated parmiggiano
reggiano and more fresh basil for garnish.
Enjoy!
