Chez Panisse Pasta with Roasted Eggplant

One of my big resolutions for this year was that I would make either lunch or dinner a vegetarian meal. Not that I have anything against meat - hey, if you're on top of the food chain for the moment, might as well enjoy it, right? - but I find that in life, one of the most important things is balance, and this past year, and especially during the holidays, we haven't done a very good job with that when it comes to food.

And while we are on the subject of confessions and resolutions, I have to tell you another thing. I'm afraid you're going to laugh, but because I'm brave and you are a captive audience, I'll tell you anyway. Ever since I saw Weston's famous photographs, I've had a thing for vegetables. I think eggplant has sexy curves. I lust after the little curls of sweet peas. A really good tomato can make me do all sorts of bad, bad things. So I guess it just makes sense that sooner or later, I was going to run across Alice Waters' Chez Panisse Vegetables and also fall in love with it.

I'll warn you straight off the bat that there's nothing revolutionary about this pasta - you take some some spaghetti and throw it together with roasted eggplant, mushrooms and onions, and whoa, let's be really adventurous here and add some chopped tomatoes, feta cheese and cilantro. But I tell you, and please trust me on this, that you will not be able to stop eating it. Once you've put it all together, and you take that first bite of perfectly al dente wheat pasta that's slicked with a little good olive oil and sherry vinegar, and bite into the succulent, slightly salty chunks of mushrooms and eggplant, and the onions will crunch and the feta will obligingly melt on your tongue and the earthy smell of cilantro will top it all off... What I'm trying to say here is that you will really want some alone time with this pasta because it's good... like, "should I really be doing this? (yes)" good. Or so this prim and proper blogger has heard, of course.


Chez Panisse Pasta with Roasted Eggplant
(Alice Waters Chez Panisse Vegetables, my adaptation)

1/2 pound wheat pasta
1 large eggplant, or two smaller Japanese eggplants
1/2 lb white button mushrooms, quartered
1/2 red onion, finely diced (or 3/4 shallots, finely diced) (if using regular pasta, not wheat, use yellow onion)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped (or can also use parsley)
A dash of sherry vinegar
1 cup diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons good olive oil
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese (I find that less is more here - also, if you are using regular pasta, not wheat, I would probably go with goat or ricotta cheese)
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the eggplant into 1/2 inch cubes and quarter the mushrooms. Toss this with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large bowl until coated (or just spray with an olive oil spray). Place the veggies on a roasting pan in a single layer, sprinkle all over with kosher salt, and roast for 25-30 or until they are soft.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to boil. Cook the pasta according to instructions on the box. Drain, but retain a few tablespoons of the water.

Heat a large skillet to medium. Pour in the other 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Add the onion and saute until it's soft and starting to color. Add the garlic, cook for about a minute until fragrant, and then deglaze the pan with a splash of sherry vinegar.

Add the eggplant and mushrooms to the skillet along with the diced tomatoes and the pasta water. Add the pasta (and if it's too dry, splash a little more olive oil on it) and season with salt and pepper. Stir in half the feta cheese and half the cilantro (or parsley). Divide between bowls and garnish with the rest of the feta and cilantro.