Sauce Ingredients:
1 small eggplant cut into cubes, 1 1/2 to 2 cups
1 good sized yellow squash also cubed, 1 1/2 to 2 cups
OR use 3-4 cups of all eggplant or all squash!
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
1 heaping cup diced onions
salt and freshly gound black pepper
2 large garlic cloves, minced or put through a press
2 cups peeled & diced tomatoes or one 14 ounce can diced. Halved cherry tomatoes can also be used
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar 0r more to taste, depending on how ripe the tomatoes are
2 tablespoons capers, drained
For serving:
3 ounces of soft plain or honey goat cheese
8 ounces of pasta, your choice of shape
1/2 to 2/3 of the sauce
grated Parmesan
This amount of pasta will serve 2-4 people and you won’t use all the sauce. If you have a larger crowd make a whole pound of pasta and you might use all of the sauce.
Heat the olive oil in a wide deep skillet or Dutch oven. Add the squash and cook over medium high heat until softened and starting to brown. Add the onions and season with salt and pepper. Add the tomatoes, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook uncovered until the tomatoes have broken down and the sauce is thickened. Add the vinegar, brown sugar, and capers, taste to see if it needs additional vinegar or sugar or salt or pepper. Keep at a low bubble while you cook the pasta.
Heat a large pot of water and when it’s almost boiling, salt liberally. Add the pasta – I like shells or orecchiette for this, they kind of cup the capers. Cook until it’s a little less than the doneness you like, because it will cook more in the sauce. Drain the pasta, and return it to the pot. Ladle in about half the sauce and crumble in the goat cheese. Cover briefly to melt the cheese then stir to blend everything – and so you can tell if it needs more sauce. Serve immedfiately and pass the Parmesan. The remaining sauce can be used on another batch of pasta or if you don’t have enough, it a good bruschetta topping.