Pasta with Roasted Eggplant and Meat Sauce

FOUND IT: I recently purchased a copy of Mark Bittman's Food Matters Cookbook. So far I've made four recipes out of it: Three so good I'm adding them to this site to make sure I use them again, and a fourth so bad I almost ripped the page out of the book so I wouldn't accidentally make it again.

MODIFIED IT: Only slightly to adjust to ingredients I had on hand. Modifications are noted in the ingredients.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lbs eggplant, cut into bite-sized cubes
• 8 ounces ground beef or lamb (I had venison on hand, so that's what I used)
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp roughly chopped garlic (I used minced)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp dried oregano (or 1 tbsp fresh)
• 1 tsp dried thyme (or 1 tbsp fresh)
• 3 tbsp tomato paste*
• 6 ripe Roma tomatoes, chopped (or canned and drained)
• 1/2 cup red wine or water
• 8 ounces pasta
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

* - I had one of those small cans of tomato paste. 3 tbsp was about half of it, but I used the whole thing since I hate wasting it.

Combine the eggplant, ground meat, onion and garlic in a large roasting pan, drizzling with the olive oil and sprinkling with salt and pepper. Roast at 425 for 40 minutes, stirring once in the middle to continue to break up the meat.

Add the bay leaf, oregano and thyme, then the tomato paste and stir it in. Stir in the tomatoes and wine, then return to the oven for 10-15 minutes more or until the mixture has thickened. Take out the bay leaf.

Cook the pasta, and toss with the sauce. Top with some grated parmesan and enjoy.