Baked Ziti with Beef Ragù and Roasted Eggplant

This recipe comes from a Williams-Sonoma Pasta cookbook. Besides making a homemade beef ragù beforehand, the recipe was pretty quick and easy. You may notice that is not a traditional baked ziti with ricotta, but the eggplant is a nice touch! I actually cut the recipe in half but I will post the full recipe here for you. You can also quickly make this a vegetarian recipe by simply using regular tomato sauce instead of a meat sauce... so have fun sisters!

Ingredients:
2 cups Beef Ragù
6 tablespoons Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
3 small Eggplants, cut into chucks
3/4 lb Ziti, penne, or other tubular pasta
2 Tomatoes, chopped
1/2 lb Mozzarella Cheese, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese, freshly grated

1. Roast the Eggplant: Preheat the oven to 450. Line baking sheets with foil. In a bowl, combine the oil and 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Drizzle eggplant chucks with oil arrange on the baking sheet so they are not touching. Roast until golden, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Reduce the oven temp to 400.

2. Cook the pasta: Bring pot of water to boil, and add 2 tbsp salt and the pasta. Cook, until still very al dente, about half of the timing on the package directions.

3. Assemble and bake the dish:  In a large bowl, toss together the pasta, sauce, roasted eggplant, and tomatoes. Spread half the dish, layer with half the cheeses, spread the other half, and top with the rest of the cheeses. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake about 5 minutes longer, until the surface is golden and bubbly.