The latest in grad student pasta innovation!

 For dinner tonight I made this quick pasta dish ( I feel like I've done a lot of those lately...what can I say? I'm a grad student. It's quick, it's cheap, what do you want from me?) inspired by a baked ziti recipe I saw a few years ago on the Williams-Sonoma website. The original recipe made a sauce from scratch and had whole Kalamtaa olives in it. I highly recommend  you make that dish too, but if you're in a hurry this is what you want. I also found that my friends weren't too keen on being slapped with a full bite of olive in the middle of their pasta, even though the olives did wonderful things for the flavor of the sauce. So, I chopped them up and changed their role in this dish from a featured ingredient to something in the background, like a vegetarian anchovy.

  The whole time I was putting this together, all I could think was, "If I was a mom, I would totally add this to my regular rotation." So, any parents out there reading, if  you try this let me know how it goes.  Inquiring non-parent minds want to know!  Even if you don't have kids, this one is definitely worth making.

Eggplant Pasta Surprise

1 package of short pasta (I used radiatore)

1 medium eggplant

1 lb italian sausage (I used sweet, but spicy works too)

10 pitted kalamta olives

26 oz jar of your favorite tomato-basil-garlic sauce

optional- 1 /4 cup mozzarella cut into 1/4 inch cubes to melt into the dish at the end

Put on your big ol' pot of water to boil for the pasta.

 While you're waiting for the boil,  cut your egg plant into 1/2 inch cubes ( I see no harm in cutting them smaller if your kids are REALLY opposed to mystery veggies) and saute them over medium heat in 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large frying pan. Once they start getting translucent and the flesh is going from white to green to brown add your sausage to the pan. If you bought links (like I did), remove the casing before adding the sausage to the eggplant. Once the meat is cooked, drain the fat/excess eggplant liquid and return the pan to the heat. Time for the olives. I'm pretty specific with the olive measurement because those little buggers are intense! You don't want to add too many. Rinse the olives and finely chop them. Add them to the eggplant and meat. Cover it all with the sauce and carefully incorporate all the ingredients. Reduce the heat to low and let it simmer while the pasta cooks. 

When the pasta is done drain the noodles and return them to the big ol' pot. Add the mozzarella to the noodles at this time if you're using it. CAREFULLY pour your sauce over the noodles and mix it all up. Dig in! 

I feel like this dish is deliciously odd...much like this song!