Penne Melanzane

This pasta dish epitomises the five years I spent living in inner Sydney as a single girl. House sharing, working to live and having a whole heap of fun. With a great group of friends in one of the most exciting cities you can live.
 When I cooked something for myself, I wanted it to be tasty, comforting, affordable and fast. This recipe was all of those things, and I must have cooked it once a week.
It is also all about my beautiful cousin and close friend Susie who was the first to start making versions of this sauce.  She re-created a favourite meal of ours that we both enjoyed at a land mark restaurant on Norton street, Leichhardt called 'Bar Italia'.
 This is my version of this pasta dish and it is still a big favourite. It will always bring back memories of  Susie's support of me, her amazing comfort cooking, and so many fun times at good old 'Bar Italia'.

Ingredients:

Olive oil spray
2 small - medium eggplants, thinly sliced length ways
1/4 of a cup of olive oil
4 medium garlic cloves, sliced
160 grams of Kalamata olives (approximately 30 large olives), pits removed
30 grams of capers, rinsed
4 cans of peeled tomatoes, pureed
Salt
500 grams of penne pasta
fetta cheese, to taste

Method:

Spray each side of the eggplant slices with the olive oil spray and fry on a hot fry pan or skillet until eggplant slices are softened and charred. It's also really great to do this step on a BBQ.
Once eggplants are softened, place on a cutting board and roughly chop into chunky pieces.

Place a heavy based saucepan on medium heat and add olive oil, heat slightly and add garlic. Stir for about a minute just to flavour the oil and soften the garlic, but do not let the garlic brown.
Next add the olives and capers and fry for five minutes over the medium heat. Add the eggplant and stir through making sure all of the ingredients are mixed together well, then pour in the pureed tomatoes.
Stir through and add salt to taste, a teaspoon at a time.

Put lid on saucepan and turn up heat, bring to the boil making sure to stir it to avoid sticking. Once boiling turn down heat and simmer for about 30 - 40 minutes with lid slightly ajar, or until the sauce has thickened and the flavours have amalgamated.

While sauce is simmering bring a pot of water to the boil and then add a heaped teasoon of salt and the penne pasta. Cook until aldented or according to packet instructions.

When pasta is cooked, drain and return pasta to pot. Stir some of the sauce through the pasta  to avoid it from sticking together.

Serve with extra finished sauce and crumble fetta over the top.

Serves 4 - 6