First things first:  The eggplants will not stop coming.  They grow and grow, becoming more menacing with each passing week.  Daring me to find new and interesting ways to consume them without noticing just how fucking disgusting they are.  A couple of years ago I came across an old cookbook called Italian Regional Cooking by Ada Boni.  I managed to find a recipe that looked like it might do the trick so I decided to give it a shot.  Damn you, eggplants.  I shall be victorious.

A caveat before we get started:  The ingredient list and the directions assume that you are actually making your own tomato sauce while preparing this dish.  I just canned my own sauce so I cheated.  If you can’t use your own homemade sauce in a recipe that calls for a homemade sauce, then what are we even doing here?

Here’s what you’ll need:

Two large-ish Eggplants

2 Lbs. Tomatoes

2 Cloves Garlic, crushed or grated

Salt and Pepper, to taste

1 Lb. Short Pasta

1 C Romano Cheese, freshly grated

4-5 Sprigs Basil, chopped

Cut off the heads and tails of the eggplants, and peel them.  Slice them lengthwise as thinly as you can, because thick eggplant is bullshit. 

Fry them, a few at a time, in plenty of hot oil until well-browned and drain on paper towels.  Keep hot.

Peel the tomatoes, slice them and put the juice and seeds into a separate bowl.  Pour off most of the oil in the pan, leaving only about a cupful, and sauté the garlic cloves until very light brown.  If they get too dark, they will be bitter—and bitter garlic is bullshit.  Add the tomatoes and stir well.  Strain the juice and pour it over the tomatoes.  Discard the seeds.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook quickly for 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook your pasta.  Drain and mix with half of the tomato sauce.

Brush a casserole dish with olive oil.  Cover the bottom with a layer of pasta, followed by a layer of eggplants, and sprinkle generously with Romano and a little basil.

Continue in this manner until all the ingredients are used up, finishing with a layer of eggplants.  Spread the rest of the tomato sauce over the top and sprinkle with cheese, basil and a little olive oil.

Bake in a 450-degree oven for 15 minutes to allow everything to absorb the mixed flavors and to become very hot.

You know what?  This is actually pretty good.  It also has the added benefit of being considerably easier to make than eggplant parm.  So I think this one will be on the rotation when The Eggplants That Ate Chicago return to ruin my life.