Pasta With Roasted Eggplant

I haven't made this meatless pasta dish in more than 10 years. With so many new recipes to try, I have forgotten that I used to make this frequently. I got this recipe from a magazine a looong time ago, I can't remember which one. It's good either as a main or side dish. I remember using fusilli for this dish, its grooves catch all the yummy sauce. I used pipette, a short pasta that also has grooves, you can use any kind of pasta, the taste will still be good. I also found these sweet long red peppers, the package says "Ancient Sweets" and used them in place of red bell pepper. I can't really tell the difference.

Pasta With Eggplant
1 eggplant
1 red bell pepper
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
4 garlic clove, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes
½ cup olives, coarsely chopped
½ cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 cup toasted pine nuts
salt, to taste
½ pound uncooked pipette or fusilli pasta
Parmesan cheese

• Cook pasta according to package directions while cooking sauce.
• Score eggplant all over, roast over stove fire until skin is charred. Set aside until cool enough to handle. Roast red bell pepper over stove fire until skin is charred. Wrap in aluminum foil until cool enough to handle. Remove skins from pepper and eggplant, then coarsely chop.
• In a large saucepan, heat olive oil, add garlic and red peppers, saute for 5 minutes, add tomatoes, olives, eggplant, and salt and stir cook for 2 minutes. Add basil leaves, then add cooked pasta. Mix well and transfer to a serving dish. Sprinkle with pine nuts and grated Parmesan cheese.