Pasta with Eggplant and Mini Meatballs

For the meatballs:

Mix meatball ingredients together in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Form into small bite-sized meatballs (smaller than an inch in diameter).

For the sauce:

1. Add olive oil to a pan on medium-high heat. Brown the meatballs (don’t fully cook them through), then take meatballs out of pan and set aside (leave the oil in the pan). Make sure the brown bits stuck to the pan are not getting too dark.

2. Turn heat to medium-low and add garlic and onions to pan. Saute for a few minutes until soft. Add the white wine or stock to the pan to deglaze it and get all the brown bits in the pan unstuck. Let the liquid reduce for a few minutes.

3. Add cubed eggplant to pan and stir. Add 1/2 cup of water then cover the pan and steam the eggplant for 5 minutes. Once eggplant has softened, add the canned tomatoes and simmer on low heat. Season with salt and pepper, add meatballs back to the pan. Let sauce simmer for about 10-15 minutes.

4. Cook pasta in salted boiling water until al dente while sauce is simmering. Reserve one ladle of cooking water when draining pasta.

5. Stir pasta through the sauce while it’s in the pan. If sauce appears too thick, thin it out with some of the pasta cooking water. Ladle pasta into bowls and serve with shaved pecorino or parmesan cheese.

*Note: If you are concerned about the bitter taste that eggplant may have sometimes, after cubing the eggplant salt it and leave in a colander for 20-30 minutes to extract the bitter juices. Rinse and drain the eggplant, then carry on cooking.