Eggplant Linguine

I love when a meal just comes together so easily. I had an eggplant in the fridge so went looking for an easy recipe to throw together after work. I ran across a spaghetti with Eggplant and Basil recipe on a food blog (litebite.in) and adapted it slightly.

Eggplant Linguine
serves 3
Ingredients:

• 6 oz egg linguine (I use Al Dente egg linguine – cooks in just a few minutes and tastes fresh!)
• 4 TB olive oil
• 1 very small onion, minced (I might use shallots instead next time)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 med-large onion, diced
• 1 med eggplant chopped into bite size pieces
• 1 TB balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp honey
• 4 TB panko bread crumbs
• handful of fresh basil (torn or sliced)
• salt and pepper
• (optional) romano cheese, shredded

Directions:

1. Boil water and cook linguine. Drain, add in a tiny bit of olive oil, mix in the basil, divide pasta onto 3 plates,  and set aside.
2. In a small skillet heat 1 TB olive oil over low heat. Add the minced very small onion and 1 clove minced garlic and cook until tender and just starting to brown, about 5-7 min), stirring occasionally. Add the breadcrumbs and cook until light golden brown (about 1-2 min) stirring frequently. Stir in a pinch of salt and pepper, turn off heat and set aside.
3. In a small bowl whisk together the balsamic vinegar, honey, 1/4 cup water, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/8 tsp black pepper, set aside.
4. Heat the remaining oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the diced med-large onion and eggplant and cook until starting to soften and brown slightly (about 5-7 min), stirring occasionally. Add the balsamic mixture and cook 1 minute, then cover the skillet, turn the heat down to medium-low, and cook until the veggies are tender (about 7 min), stirring occasionally and adding a splash of water if the pan gets too dry. Add the remaining minced garlic and cook 1-2 min more.
5. Divide eggplant mixture onto top of each plate of pasta. Sprinkle breadcrumb mixture on top.
6. (optional) add shredded romano cheese on top.