Drunken Pasta with Roasted Eggplant and Tomatoes

Uuuuugggh... I am really not feelin' so hot today. Last night was Romain's (our friend who let us stay in his apartment for free for a month) 30th birthday party. Let's just say there was a lot of dancing to 80's music (since Romain was born in 1980), a lot of booze, and a lot of, "This is so AMERICAN!" from Romain's brother, Ben. It was tons of fun, but I woke up this morning with a bruised and throbbing finger, and I can't remember how I hurt it. Thankfully, it's not broken.

Needless to say, today I'm a little cloudy-brained.

Since yesterday was my first time back to Romain's apartment since we left, and we're talking about all things drunk-related, I figured I would do a little reminiscing. I'll share with you one of the things I conjured up while we were squatting Romain's apartment. It starts with a bottle of wine... no, not to cook with (yet), to start drinking. Then there's the roasted eggplant. I threw that in the pot with some pasta, tomatoes, onions, garlic, splash of wine, and topped it all with basil and some French Comté cheese. Comté is one of the most popular cheeses in France. It is a semi-firm cow's milk cheese and has a slightly sweet, nutty flavor, much like Gruyère. By the end of it, you'll be nice and toasted (due to constant drinking of wine while cooking), but it just makes it taste that much better.

Drunken Pasta with Roasted Eggplant and Tomatoes

3/4 lb of fusili pasta

1 medium eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 pint of cherry tomatoes, halved

1 medium onion, diced

1-2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 cup of red wine (I used a Côte du Rhone, but you can use any red wine you like, just make sure it's a wine you would drink)

2-3 sprigs of fresh basil

a block of Comté cheese

extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut the eggplant into 1/2 inch cubes and place on a baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil over the cubes of eggplant and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss together so that all of the eggplant is coated with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast for about 25 minutes, occasionally moving pieces around so they brown evenly.

In a large pot, bring pasta water to a boil and add salt and olive oil. Once boiling, add pasta and cook until just al dente, about 2 minutes less than is directed on the package. You can strain the pasta in a colander, just make sure to save 1-2 ladles of pasta water for the end!

In large sauté pan, add 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil and the minced garlic. Slowly bring the temperature to medium, and once the garlic has infused the oil (about 3-4 minutes) add the onions and sauté until soft and translucent. Add 1/4 cup of red wine and bring the heat to medium-high. Add the halved cherry tomatoes and sauté until softened.

Add the roasted eggplant, pasta, and a ladle or so of the pasta water to the tomato/onion mixture (if your sauté pan is not large enough to hold everything, you can transfer it all into a large pot). Stir over medium heat for a few minutes, just to finish cooking the pasta and let the red wine and pasta water create a tasty sauce. Sprinkle some chopped basil over the hot pasta and stir to let the basil start to wilt. Top with some freshly grated Comté cheese. Salt and pepper to taste. Serves 3-4.

Tartine Tuesday: Jerk Chicken Salad and Black Tomato Tartines

On a previous trip to the grocery store, I came across black tomatoes. 

Also called kumato tomatoes, black tomatoes are a variety of tomatoes which are grown in Spain, France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland and Canada. The interesting thing about these tomatoes is that they ripen from the inside outwards. They are slightly smaller than your normal, everyday tomato(as shown in the picture above), and come in colors ranging from dark brown, to red, to golden green. Their flavor is more intense, and their flesh is much firmer than a regular tomato, making them perfect for salads and sandwiches.

I wanted to incorporate my recently purchased black tomatoes into one of my "Tartine Tuesday" recipes before they became too ripe to use.

Last night we had rotisserie-style jerk chicken. With only 3 people eating dinner, had a good hunk of meat left over for today. I stared at the leftover leg/thigh combo to try to get some inspiration for my tartine of the week. I shredded some of the meat into a bowl and added some mayo that I found in the back of the fridge. Ding! Chicken salad.

Now, you can use this recipe with regular rotisserie chicken, but I figured the heat form the jerk spices would give a little kick to the everyday chicken salad. I know, I should post the jerk chicken recipe before posting this one, but honestly, it's just a spice mix we had and rubbed on the chicken. Feel free to do the same, and make your own leftover jerk chicken for this recipe!!

Jerk Chicken Salad and Black Tomato Tartines

1 1/2 cups of shredded rotisserie-style jerk chicken
2 black tomatoes, sliced(If you can't find black tomatoes, you can use any kind of tomatoes)
1 1/2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
2 slices of whole grain bread, toasted
salt and pepper, to taste

In a bowl, add the shredded chicken and mayo, and stir to combine. Salt and pepper to taste. If you are using regular rotisserie-style chicken, you can add a pinch crushed red pepper to give it some kick. Spread the chicken salad over toast and top with black tomatoes. Serves 2.