Osterized Dinner (Chow)

Continually trying new things to keep NDM amused during her studying -- this week I decided to put our dinner through the Osterizer.
I cubed a large eggplant and halved a pint of cherry tomatoes, then tossed them well with 3T olive oil, 3 sliced cloves of garlic, and 1t each of kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, and cayenne. The whole mess went on a sheet of parchment on a baking rack and into a 400º oven for 35 minutes.

I also put a few ounces of pine nuts in a metal dish and slipped in on the lower rack of the same oven for about 8 minutes to lightly toast them without all the hassle of using a pan on the stove.

Towards the end of the roasting, I cooked a box of rigatone and reserved its pasta water.
When the roasting was done, I put another few tablespoons of olive oil in the blender with a quarter cup of coarsely chopped mint leaves, then fed it the contents of the roasting pan bit by bit until everything was pureed. Finally, I thinned the sauce to the consistency I wanted by adding about a cup and a half of the reserved pasta water.

I tossed in half a cup of fluffy microplaned parmesan, gave it a stir, and then sauced the pasta straight from the blender, sprinkling pine nuts and a little more cheese on top. Very yummy!