It is now acceptable to have Caprese Salad for Dinner: Chilled Pasta with Fresh Basil, Mozzarella Cheese, Roasted Eggplant, and Julienne Tomatoes.

Chilled Pasta with Fresh Basil, Mozzarella Cheese, Roasted Eggplant, and Julienne Tomatoes.
Photography by Benner!

I have yet to meet someone who does not like caprese salad. The problem is that on hot days, which by the way appear endless in RI, it is not exactly acceptable nor fiscally possible to afford the dish for every meal. This is a recipe that Benner and I made as a way to make caprese salad a full, refreshing meal by bulking up the traditional caprese salad with rigatoni pasta and roasted eggplant!!

Ingredients:

2 Small Japanese Eggplants (Wishing Stone Farm)
1 Medium sized Tomato (Hill Orchards) or (Wishing Stone Farm)
1 Handful of freshly picked Basil
1 Large Mozarella Ball (Narragansett Creamery)
1 Pound of (Rigatoni) pasta.
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper

1.Preheat the oven to 380. Wash and slice the eggplant into 1/4 thick circles. Then slice the circles in half. Put a pot of salted boiling water on the stove. When boiled, pour in the pasta, cook until al dente, drain, place in a boil with a little bit of olive oil, stir, and put aside.
2. Over medium heat, put enough oil in a pan so that there is more than just a thin film of oil on the pan, enough for stir frying the eggplant. Saute the eggplant until soft. Add salt, pepper, and red pepper to your liking.
3. Spread the eggplant out on a cookie sheet and put in the oven for about 7 minutes. Since the eggplant probably looks a little soggy, we put it in the oven so that it was a more sturdy looking.
4. Chop the tomato and mozarella into small pieces. Tear up the basil in to small pieces and mix this in too. Put these in the bowl that has pasta in it. When the eggplant is finished, put it into the pasta as well. Mix and enjoy immediately or after refridgeration.