Pasta L'autumno

Lots of veggies, some pasta from the freezer, and not much else. It's pretty much a dumbed down bastardized ratatouille with pasta. Or a fall version of Pasta Primavera, hence the name. It's a happy mix of vegetables--yellow tomatoes commingling with red ones, Japanese eggplant embraced by California olive oil, even Italian parsley and Jamaican chile pepper grown on the West Side of Cleveland nesting side by side with East Side grown shallots. All the while Bob Marley tunes were emanating from my next door neighbor's house. We all have much to learn from this melting pot of vegan pasta.

Ingredients:
- Shallot, sliced
- Chile pepper, sliced
- Eggplant, roughly cubed
- Zucchini, roughly cubed
- Garlic, minced
- Tomato, diced
- Parsley, chopped
- Nasturtium petals
- Salt and pepper
- Olive oil
- Pasta (Preferably wide noodles. Method is for fresh or fresh-frozen; if using dried, plan accordingly.)
Method:
- Start water for pasta
- Preheat olive oil in pan
- Quickly caramelize shallots in olive oil with some salt
- When shallots are soft, add chile pepper and mix (mix each time new vegetables are added)
- When chile pepper is soft, add eggplant, salt and pepper, and some more olive oil
- When eggplant is about there, add zucchini
- Once zucchini is warmed through, add minced garlic
- Add pasta to water
- Add tomato to veggies, lower heat and adjust seasoning (Don't be shy with the ground pepper.)
- When pasta is about ready, drain and add to veggies with parsley and nasturtium and mix well
- Serve

It's pretty simple and goes quickly. Omit the chile pepper if you don't like heat, but maybe substitute with bell pepper, because it is nice to get some pepper in there. As the picture shows, it's more about the veggies than the pasta, but it doesn't have to be that way. The zucchini is cooked more than it looks, with just a bit of crispness left. Despite their diverse national origins, or possibly because of them, all the veggies work well together. Plus, just about anything can be omitted or added.