Pasta with Roasted Red Pepper and Eggplant

Roast some red peppers; they are sweet and delicious. Go ahead and char 'em, burn 'em, sear 'em.  Its fun with flames - what guy wouldn't love it? You can use a gas stove (my favorite) or a gas grill (my second favorite) or an oven and broiler (last ditch effort if gas not available). I used red and yellow peppers here. I wouldn't use green, as they have a decidedly different taste than red, yellow and orange peppers.

And they're good for you - full of carotenoids and antioxidants.  Too bad most of the vitamin C is probably degraded with roasting.  Oh well, such a rich flavor roasting imparts...  Fresh thyme is really a great pairing for roasted red peppers - seek it out if not in your garden - its worth it.

1/2 lb large pasta such as Rigatoni

1 large eggplant, sliced into 1/2-inch slices
1 red pepper
1 orange pepper
1 large jalapeño pepper
1/2 cup roasted pepper sauce (see Cook's Note)
1 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves, or 1/4 tsp dried
1/4 cup grated Romano or Parmesan cheese

Heat a gas grill.  Place the red, yellow and jalapeño peppers on the grill.  The plan is to blacken their skins. So allow them to roast, turning them every 3-4 minutes or so, until they blacken evenly.  Meanwhile spray or brush the eggplants with a bit of olive oil. Place eggplant slices on another section of the grill and allow them to brown slightly, about 3-5 minutes.  Turn them 90-degrees to get criss-cross grill marks.  Cook another 2-3 minutes.  Flip the eggplants and cook them on the other side in the same fashion, until the slices are nicely browned and cooked through.  Remove eggplant to a platter.  The pepper should require at least twice as long to blacken.

When the peppers are well roasted, place them in a paper bag and fold it closed, or in a bowl sealed with plastic wrap.  Allow the peppers to steam for about 5 minutes, and then remove them when they are cool enough to handle, and gently pull the blackened skin off of them.  Seed and slice the peppers.

Meanwhile, bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta.  Cook the pasta until al dente.  When the pasta is cooked, drain and return into pot.  Add the pepper sauce, stir together, and then add 3/4 of the peppers and the eggplant.  Gently fold the veggies and pasta together.  Tip pasta into a serving dish.  Top pasta with remaining pepper and eggplant, and then the thyme and the grated cheese. Serve with extra virgin olive oil on the side, and some crusty bread.

Serves 4.

Cook's Note: Fast Weeknight dish - to save a whole lot of time, you can use a 12-oz jar or fire roasted red and yellow peppers, instead of roasting your own peppers.  Add a dash of red pepper flakes, or some jarred jalapeño to add the heat. There are a lot of sauces which would work well here, the idea being to emphasize the peppers with a pepper-based sauce like Trader Joe's Roasted Red Pepper Spread with Eggplant and Garlic, or Romesco Sauce (9-26-12), or Yellow Pepper Pistachio Pesto (1-29-13).  But any nice pesto would work.