I had planned to make this eggplant bolognese for dinner, but never made it to the market. So instead I cobbled together what I had at home including, heirloom tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, carrots and a piece of salt pork.

Here’s my ingredient list:
Olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, diced
3 tomatoes, chunked
2 zucchini, chunked
1 lb mini eggplant, chunked
1 28 oz can (peeled) tomatoes
Approx. 2 inch cube salt pork
1lb whole wheat pasta
Red wine
Bay leaf

Boil salt pork in water for about 10 minutes, then drain and cool.

Meanwhile, saute onions until translucent, then add cooled salt pork to pan and cook for about 5 min. on med. heat. Then add carrots and garlic and cook until the veggies are soft and translucent, but don’t let garlic burn. There should be a bunch of brown bits on the bottom of the pan from the pork and carrots.

Next, deglaze the pan with approx. 3/4 cup red wine and stir until wine reduces. Next I added the eggplant and zucchini and saute for another 5-10 minutes until tender. Then I added fresh and canned tomatoes, bay leaf, a little black and red pepper and let simmer for about 20-30 minutes.

Serve over pasta. I garnish with a bit of chopped basil and parsley.

Note: I don’t think I boiled the salt pork long enough because the sauce was just about perfectly salty without adding extra. But I did enjoy the extra fresh tomato flavor that the heirloom tomatoes added.

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