As you can tell by some of my other recipes I have posted, Pasta with Asparagus, Lemon and Sausage, Melted Summer Squash Pasta with Sausage and Lemon, this is one of my favorite flavor combinations. While not in the title, Parmesan, or another flavorful aged cheese also plays an important role. This combo is so flexible. Try it with your favorite seasonal vegetables – broccolini, kale, raab… They all work great. You can also tell by some of my other recipes that I have posted, Pasta with Savory Melted Eggplant and Sweet Peppers and Pasta with Melted Eggplant, Olives and Capers, melting is one of my favorite ways to prepare eggplant. I describe the inspiration and general technique in the melting section of my article All About Eggplant.

Start this recipe by preparing the eggplant for melting. You’ll need a pound or a little more than a pound of eggplant. The variety of eggplant isn’t very important. I’ve used Asian, Italian and globe varieties with equal success. Chop the eggplant into 1” pieces. Put an ounce each of water and olive oil in a small jar along with a teaspoon of salt. Close the jar and shake vigorously. The goal is to dissolve the salt in the water and to emulsify the oil and water into a homogenous solution. This won’t last long. If you let it sit, the oil and water will separate. If they do, just shake it up again. Toss the chopped eggplant with the emulsified solution and set aside. The quick brine will do its work while you work on the other pieces.

Pick out your pot. I usually use a five-quart soup pot, which is big enough not only to cook the sauce in, but also big enough to toss a pound of pasta into the sauce. If you only have one large pot and will need it to cook the dry pasta, you can prepare this eggplant sauce in a 3-quart sauce pot.

Work on the stove starts with half a pound of Italian sausage. I buy Italian sausage in one-pound packages with 4 links. This allows me to use two links in a recipe, and then rewrap the remaining two links in the original packaging, held tight with a couple of rubber bands, and thrown in the freezer for the next recipe. I remove the casing by running the edge of a knife along the length of each link, and then peeling the casing off the sausage. Sauté the sausage on medium-high heat with a tablespoon of olive oil, breaking it into small pieces as it cooks. The fat will render from the sausage and mingle with the olive oil. The wonderful flavor of this seasoned pork fat and olive oil will permeate the entire dish. Not all Italian sausage is created equal. When you find a sausage that flavors dishes as you like, stick with it. I favor the Spicy Italian Sausage from Firsthand Foods.

While the sausage is cooking, dice up a medium sized onion, about 6-8 ounces by weight, and mince up a few cloves of garlic. Once the fat is rendered from the sausage and the sausage is fully cooked, add the diced onion to the mix. Continue to sauté until the onion is soft and translucent. Stir in the minced garlic and sauté another minute.

Now it’s time to add the eggplant. Stir the eggplant into the sausage and onion mixture, add a cup of stock, stir and bring to a simmer. Use a wooden spatula to stir often, and scrape up any brown fond as it develops on the bottom and sides of the pot. As the eggplant cooks, you can use the back of the spatula to smoosh the eggplant as it softens, or even use a potato masher for efficiency. Add splashes of stock or water, as needed, if things dry up. Expect it to take about 20 minutes to transform the chunks of eggplant into a melted, gooey, decadent pasta sauce.

As the eggplant is cooking, prepare a pound of dried pasta. Follow the directions on the package or consider Kenji Lopez-Alt’s New Way to Cook Pasta. Also zest and juice one lemon (up to two ounces of lemon juice).

Reserve a cup of the seasoned, starchy pasta water. Toss the pasta with the savory eggplant, the lemon zest, and the lemon juice. If it seems like the sauce needs it, add a splash of the reserved pasta water, and toss some more. Taste. If needed, add salt and pepper to your taste. Top the pasta with a freshly grated aged cheese (Parmesan, Pecorino, Calvander, …) and optionally some chopped fresh herbs such as parsley, basil, oregano or chives.