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Pasta Divina
Place several handfuls of dried Porcini mushrooms to rehydrate in a quart of organic chicken stock that has just begun to boil gently. Turn off the flame, and leave the mushrooms to soak with the top tightly covered for about ten minutes. Next, remove them from the pot with a slotted spoon into a glass jar and cover in olive oil to save for another day.
Now reheat the mushroom-broth to a boil. Drop in a couple handfuls of sun-dried tomatoes, turn off the flame, and let them steep for another ten minutes. Remove the softened tomatoes from the broth, mince them thoroughly, and return them to the broth. This mingled mushroom and tomato stock is the base of your sauce.
Let it simmer over a low-flame and reduce for the next half an hour as you bake a large eggplant at a high heat until it explodes. That’s right, due to the expansion of internal gases, the humble eggplant will transform itself from a placid purple fruit to a terrifying weapon of destruction. You will hear a soft hollow pop in the oven that will signal that the eggplant has succumbed to the heat.
Retrieve your prize and separate the sweet, smoky caramelized eggplant-flesh from the dry, tattered skin left hanging in shreds. Pulverize the flesh with your palm across the back of a heavy knife atop your choppingboard until you have a rough puree.
During the half hour or so that it takes the eggplant to become explosive, hold a pair of red peppers on a fork above the open-flame in a quiet meditation until they began to blacken at the edges. Listen attentively as the peppers wheeze and pop as you enjoy the first few whiffs of the smoky-sweet aroma. Now place the charred peppers in a closed paper bag and let them steam for a minute or two before peeling, chopping, and tossing them with two minced red onions plus a few lobes of minced fresh garlic into a large pan with good olive oil and a pinch of sea-salt.
Let this caramelize nicely for ten minutes before adding the pulverized eggplant. Stir this gently into the oily onions and peppers for ten minutes until the residual moisture dissipates and it too begins to caramelize nicely. Add a cup of the mushroom/tomato infusion, and a big handful of minced fresh basil. Check that you are employing an easy fire lest all your labor be misspent. Cover and simmer for a quarter of an hour.
Now add two cups of peeled chopped plum tomatoes, and one more half-cup of the tomato-mushroom infusion. Simmer uncovered for another quarter of an hour, occasionally massaging the sauce with a wooden spoon. Next, toss in two tablespoons of minced capers, a half a cup of chopped Sicilian olives, and a half cup of good red wine.
Cover and simmer for fifteen minutes as you sip a little wine and nibble at an olive. Now add a half cup of finely chopped parsley, a cup or two of loosely chopped mushrooms, a small handful of fresh chopped herbs such as sage, thyme, rosemary, and oregano with a third of a cup more stock and lots of fresh ground pepper. Simmer for a final fifteen minutes over a very low flame. Salt& Pepper to taste and then pour the entire brimming saucepan into an extra-large bowl where the hot pasta awaits already mixed with a splash of olive oil and a cup of grated Pecorino Romano cheese. Top this off with a little more cheese and serve with a simple arugala salad, dressed with salt, pepper, extra-virgin olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar.
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