I have been making my rounds to different cultures vegan style.This time I go to Italy. With Italian cuisine, you have pasta as the popular side or main. Yes it would be absolutely criminal for a non vegan Italian chef to not add cheese to everything.

I don't miss the cheese at all when I eat pasta, especially if the sauce tastes good. I happen to be a tomato lover. I would be sad if I couldn't have tomatoes, which is not exclusive to any culture of the world.

I have decided this time to add aubergine (eggplant) to this sauce. I get in the mood for it sometimes. This sauce has simple ingredients and is easy to make. The tomatoes carry the show and the eggplant is a great co star.

Eggplant is one of those things that I only eat once in a while. I don't know why. I'm just not compelled to have it all of the time. I think it's such a versatile item that is used everywhere around the world. The ones I'm not crazy about are the small Asian ones. I suppose if I had someone that cooks these the way of their culture, I would like them.

Tomato eggplant sauce
Eggplant 600g
Roma tomatoes 600g
Onion 150g
Garlic 20g
Shallot 20g
Pasata 300g
Tomato paste 75g
Oregano 1 tsp
Thyme 1tsp
Basil a few leaves fresh
Salt and pepper to taste

I've used fresh roma tomatoes, tomato pasata, and tomato paste. The fresh tomatoes are not great right now, which is why they needed a hand from the pasata and the paste.

I blended the romas before I cooked them but they could be kept chunky if desired.

I went to the closest store across the street to get the pasata, and they only had one from Spain. I don't really know the difference between that and an Italian passata. I suppose an Italian cook would tell me all about it.

Onion and garlic are a must for me in a sauce, but I added a shallot as well because I have quite a few.

Chop the onion and shallot. Mince the garlic.

I think it would be great to put the eggplant on fire and give it a smokey flavor. I am not allowed a fire in my apartment. It would also be good roasted in the oven first. I chose to just peel it and squeeze the water out to make it meatier.

I chose to randomly cut them into sticks. I wasn't quite sure if the size was right but it worked out.

After slicing the eggplant, I salted them then put them in a sieve or strainer to let the liquid out. The salt helps with that.

To help it further I put a pot on the strainer with the eggplant on top to weigh it down. The pot was full of water.

I spent the next 10 minutes drying the floor after the pot fell and all the water spilled out. Of course I did it again with a better balance.

When the water was removed from the eggplant I cooked the onion, shallot, and garlic in a pot with a little oil. When they were cooked down I splashed a little wine to deglaze then added the aubergine.

I cooked the aubergine, onion, garlic and shallot together for a few minutes then added the tomato paste.

After a few minutes I added the pasata and the blended roma tomatoes.

I let the sauce simmer for quite a while after seasoning it. It was probably in the pot for a good hour and a half on low.

I blended the whole thing a little bit with a hand blender, because I don't like big chunks of eggplant. I left it slightly chunky.

I began to make the pasta, which was not my original intention. I had two options, go to the store to buy pasta, in the miserable weather, or use the ingredients I had to make the pasta.

I chose to make it. I like to use the pasta roller, but that's when I always have trouble.The handle falls off or I can't crank it or something makes me crazy. I just wanted to have it as thin as possible. Plus I spent the money on it so I use it when I can.

Pasta dough
1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cup semolina flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 to 1 cup water
1 tbsp oil

I'm no expert at this but I have to say, that it's pretty satisfying when it's all finished. The recipe I use always works for me. The only thing is it depends on the environment how much water you will use. It's something you have to feel. When you have enough water is when you can put the dough together into a ball and knead. It feels really tough but after it's covered and rested for half an hour it's easier to flatten out

I ran it through the machine which is manual. I have a spaghetti and fettuccini cutter along with the roller to flatten. I chose fettuccini since the sauce was thick.

This amount made exactly enough for the two of us. There were no leftovers but we had really good portions.

I was excited to add fresh basil when the sauce was finished. If you add it too soon it will disappear. If you use dry basil the flavour would be there. I am not a fan of dry basil.

To cook the pasta, bring a pot of salted water to a boil and add the noodles. Leave them for around five minutes then add them to the sauce which should be hot. The sauce was a little thick so I added a little pasta water to it. The water has salt in it so it doesn't dilute the seasoning of the sauce at all.

I left it in the sauce for around two minutes before I plated up.

A sprinkle of chili flakes and some chopped green onions was all I needed.

I happened to have some homemade buns from the other day. They were sliced and turned into garlic bread. This is what I always got in an Italian restaurant back in the day when I went to one. I didn't eat it but Marc used it to wipe up the sauce from the bowl.

Of course I added a salad with a simple vinaigrette. I didn't eat it.

Thanks for dropping by and have a great day.

^{design by: @KidSisters}

Photos taken with a Nikon D7500 by me except for the ones of me taken by my partner Marc