Ingredients
400 gr. Tagliatelle
2 medium-sized eggplants
600 gr. Premium Greek Tomatoes “Lucia”
1 onion
½ cup (60 ml or 4 tablespoons) virgin olive oil
200 gr. salty ricotta cheese
2 or 3 garlic cloves
Basil leaves
Coarse salt (to remove the eggplants’ bitterness)
Pepper
Olive oil
Instructions
Wash the eggplants thoroughly and then pat them dry. Remove the stalk and leaves from their top and slice them lengthwise (1 cm thick or less). Lay a layer of sliced eggplants in a colander and sprinkle coarse salt in between. Cover them with an upturned plate and press firmly so that the layers are pressed together tightly. Place a weight on top of the plate to keep pressing and let the eggplants extract their fluids for over an hour.
Meanwhile, start preparing the tomato sauce by thoroughly washing the Premium Greek Tomatoes “Lucia”, scribe them cross-shaper lightly at the bottom and add them in boiling water for 15-20 seconds. This way, they can be more easily peeled. Remove them from the water, cut in four and remove the seeds.
Add extra virgin olive oil in a wide non-stick pan and saute the garlic cloves in moderate heat, after having them crushed. Add the thin-sliced onion and wait until it’s softened and the garlic has turned yellow – then add the Premium Greek Tomatoes “Lucia”, a few basil leaves, salt & pepper and let it cook in moderate heat for 10 minutes, keeping the lid closed.
Rinse thoroughly the eggplants (after having them pressed for over one hour) until the salt is removed. Squeeze them firmly in your hands to remove as much water as possible, then place them on an absorbent paper to eliminate what’s left of it. Once dry, fry them in olive oil and place them again on absorbent paper until they shed off the excess oil. Save the most presentable (4 for each dish decoration) and slice the rest into thin strips. Remove half the tomato sauce and keep it warm. Add the eggplant strips in the pan with the remaining sauce.
Add the pasta in a pan of already boiling well-salty water and let it boil for about 2 minutes less than the cooking time stated on the packaging. Drain the pasta “al dente” and save a cup of the boiled water. Add the pasta and the Premium Greek Tomatoes “Lucia” in a frying pan and saute for approximately 3 minutes, occasionally stirring and adding some of the boiled water to maintain its fluidity.
Serve the pasta on the dishes, adding the saved tomato sauce on top and decorating each one with 4 eggplant slices, basil leaves and the gated ricotta cheese.
