Food Blog

This is a typical Italian pasta dish with a few un-Italian vegetables thrown in. The mix of Thai eggplant, poblano and Asian sweet twist peppers melds with the tomato sauce and calamari the same way regular eggplant and common bell peppers would. Some fresh mozzarella is essential in the mix.

1/2 pound or more, cleaned calamari, sliced
8-10 small plum tomatoes
3 thai eggplants (these are the round ones)
1 poblano pepper
1-2 asian sweet twist peppers
1-2 cloves of garlic
1 shallot
fresh oregano
tomato paste
fresh mozzarella
Marsala
1 lb. fusilli pasta

This recipe will make enough sauce to lightly coat the pound of pasta.

Slice the tomatoes in half and cook them down with a little olive oil in a large pan or skillet. Give the tomatoes a couple of minutes to cook down a bit, then throw in the peppers, sliced or diced. In the meantime boil some water and cook some fusili (spiral) pasta.

When the tomatoes and peppers are just getting some good color, add the shallot, garlic, oregano (a couple of pinches) give it a stir to sweat the shallot and garlic, then add half a can of tomato paste mixed with about a 1/4 cup of Marsala. If you like lots of sauce all over your pasta, use the rest of the can. Since the vegetables and the calamari are the focal point here, I don’t won’t to drown them in sauce. I also like to go easy on the Marsala in this dish, otherwise the sweetness overpowers everything else.

While the sauce reduces down, slice the thai eggplant, and brown them in a separate pan, with some butter and olive oil. You may want to keep them aside for presentation, because if you toss them in the sauce, they’ll break up.

In the separate pan, heat some butter and oil and toss in the sliced up calamari and toss around, cooking only until it turns color, toss into the sauce. Now you’ve perfectly timed the pasta to be done by now, so let the sauce simmer while you drain it, and then toss it into the sauce. Put some fresh sliced mozzarella on top and put under a broiler until the cheese is gooey.