Pasta Salad with Roasted Eggplant

Last Friday in August - praise be and a near record day in Tucson. Doesn't look like it's going to cool off in the immediate future either. Gosh darn, it would take a cannon to get me out of the house. It's just too darn hot! I'm happy with my window to the world (computer), a great book and of course the usual house chores. You'll be pleased to know I'm still procrastinating about my list of "honey do's" - my own personal list I mean. I did strike one thing off it though - I polished 3 pairs of the big guy's shoes. Aren't I something? Wowee!

Hot though it is, I did turn on the oven for an hour yesterday to roast the vegetables for our pasta salad, and we're so glad I did. This pasta salad is a study in contrasting flavors and textures - mellow roasted red peppers combined with smooth creamy slightly sweet roasted garlic and of course nature's sponge - roasted eggplant, all highlighted with the crunch of toasted pinenuts. It is light, flavorful, definitely summery and a great use of almost anything in your pantry.

 

As usual, I made several changes to the original recipe - hey aren't they just guidelines anyway? http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pasta-Salad-with-Roasted-Eggplant-Gibb-12429 I added more garlic and roasted it along with the eggplant, used jarred roasted red peppers, added a quarter cup of chopped sun dried tomatoes and garnished the whole thing with shavings of asiago cheese. I could have added capers, kalamata olives and feta and made it something entirely different - or not. What I"m saying is - use your imagination and change out this salad to suit your tastes and take advantage of whatever you've got in your cupboard.

I apologize for the quality of the picture. I did what I could to adjust the exposure, but unfortunately the camera really didn't like the color of the bowl I used, so the salad isn't shown to its best advantage. There sure is a learning curve with this blogging adventure, but isn't that half the fun.

Comments

[Mags]

That looks delicious. I bought some eggplant this week with plans of turning it into a risotto dish I saw in Cooking Light. I think I just changed my mind.

[JBug]

This was good, but I think I'd be hard pressed to make a decision between the two. Risotto sounds wonderful-we love the stuff but have never tried it with eggplant. Thanks for the idea!