Pasta Caponata......sort of.

  Here is how this one came about.  I have said before that I watch entirely too many cooking shows.  On several I saw them make caponata as a dip and I thought to myself.....I bet that would be great as a pasta sauce.  We got several eggplants , some tomatos and some peppers in our basket this week so I was off and running.  Not a traditional caponata, but made with what I had on hand.

Caponata

3 small eggplants diced (skin left on)
1/2 small onion
1 small bell pepper
1 medim tomato diced
1/2 small can tomato paste
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup red wine
1 TBS red wine vinegar
1/2 cup green olives
1/2 cup fresh parsley
1/4 cup almonds
good olive oil!

   First of all, it was supposed to be pine nuts not almonds, but have you seen the price of those things!  No way.  I like almonds better in my pesto so I thought what the heck.  First I sauted my eggplant, onion, and bell pepper in olive oil until well softened.  I then added the chopped tomato and tomato paste and cooked it a bit to carmelize the tomato paste.  I then added the red wine (mostly because I had an open bottle sitting there and thought it could only help).  I transferred all of this to my food processor.  I added about 1/2 of the olives,red wine vinegar, lemon juice, parsley,  and the almonds and pureed.  I added this back to my pan. Rough chopped the remaining olives for texture and added them.  I then added my pasta, tossed it together and served.  Really nice.  I feel like it was missing some flavor, but I couldn't put my finger on it.  I think I might try it as a dip soon with some pita chips.