You know how us Sicilians love the combination of eggplant and pasta. It’s a marriage made in heaven. Well, this dish does not disappoint. The twist here is the tomatoes and eggplant are oven roasted. When the tomatoes are roasted the moisture evaporates and the flavor of the tomato intensifies. Roasting next to the tomatoes, the eggplant absorb all that moisture and pick up the flavor of the tomato. Once the moisture evaporates your left with a golden flavor bomb of eggplant and tomatoes. Makes a wonderful, flavorful sauce.

• 1 large eggplant, sliced into 1″ rounds then quartered
• 2 pounds of ripe fresh small garden tomatoes, quartered or cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• plenty of extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cloves of chopped garlic
• fresh basil
• 1/4 cup Pecorino Romano cheese grated, plus more for serving
• 1 pound of large macaroni product

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Place a piece of parchment paper over a large sheet pan to cover the bottom. Place the cut up tomatoes on half the sheet pan. Place the cut up eggplant on the other half. Make sure the eggplant and tomatoes are in a single layer. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drizzle with plenty of extra virgin olive oil. Place in the oven and cook for 30-35 minutes, turning the tomatoes and eggplant after 15 minutes.

Let the eggplant turn golden brown. Once cooked remove from the oven and let sit on the counter while you prepare the rest.

In a large frying pan add about 1/4 cup of olive oil and saute the garlic till fragrant. Add only the tomatoes and simmer on medium high heat till the tomatoes are further cooked down, about 15 minutes.Taste for salt.

In the meantime, cook the macaroni in plenty of salted water. When the macaroni is cooked, reserve a cup of the pasta water. Now, don’t skimp on this next step. Add the drained, cooked macaroni to the tomato sauce and mix well. Add a cup of the pasta water and continue mixing. Mix until the water evaporates and a creamy sauce is coating the pasta. Now you can add the eggplant and gently mix till blended. Remove from the heat, add the grated cheese and fresh basil. Sprinkle more olive oil over the pasta and serve.