Pasta with Eggplant and Sausage

Ingredients
1 pound sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
12 tablespoons olive oil
6-8 Japanese eggplant, cut into ¹⁄₂ inch slices
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
Pinch sugar
16 basil leaves, torn or cut into small pieces
¹⁄₄ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 pound fettucine, fresh or dried
¹⁄₄ cup Parmesan cheese, shredded or grated

Instructions
1. Cook sausage in large skillet over medium heat until cooked through.  Remove paper towels to absorb excess grease. 

2. Heat 10 tablespoons oil in same skillet over medium heat and fry eggplant slices in batches until light golden brown on outside and soft all the way through.  As each batch is done, set aside on paper towels to absorb excess oil. 

3. Add remaining oil to skillet and sauté garlic until fragrant, about 30 to 60 seconds.  Add tomatoes, sugar, and bring to boil.  Lower heat and simmer until reduced by half, about 5 to 10 minutes.

4. Cut eggplant into bite-size pieces.  Add eggplant, basil, red pepper flakes and sausage to sauce, season to taste with salt and pepper. 

5. Meanwhile, bring large pot of salted water to boil. Cook pasta as directed by packaging.  Drain well, reserving 1 cup pasta cooking water.  Toss pasta with sauce, adding pasta water if necessary.  Serve with Parmesan cheese. 

Comments
This recipe is from the Gourmet Traveller.  I added sausage because we love sausage.  This was super tasty and I probably should have doubled the recipe because I don’t think we had any leftovers at all.  I didn’t cut the eggplant into pieces but it would have been better if I had so that everything was of a similar size.  I used Japanese eggplant from the market, but you could easily use larger eggplant if that’s what you’ve got access to.

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