The longest cooking of this recipe will be for the datterini tomatoes to confit. Preheat the oven to 150°C and start by washing the tomatoes, cut them in half and place them on an oven tray with a reusable silicone baking sheet or parchment paper. Season it with some oregano, a couple of garlic cloves, salt, a good amount of olive oil and a teaspoon of Maple syrup or muscovado sugar - this will give the tomatoes a more sweet and nutty flavour, thanks to the caramelisation of the sugar -. Put the tray in the oven and keep the datterini for a couple of hours or until they look dried enough but they are actually not, as your final result will give you juicy and caramelised tomatoes. Now let's start preparing the smoky aubergine sauce. Wash the fruit and prick them a few times with a pointed knife or a fork, this will allow the smokiness to penetrate the aubergine and so to have a stronger smoked flavour. I decided to use the gas burner method, as it was the easiest one and fastest when I have done the recipe. Using kitchen tongs, hold the eggplant on the fire hob and turn it when needed, more or less you will be doing this step every 5 minutes, occasionally by being careful the fruit won't catch fire and char completely. Still, the result you want is almost burnt, yet soft inside, with cracked and dry skin.Once the aubergine are cooked, place them in a metal or glass bowl and cover it with foil or a lid. Cool it down for about 20 minutes or so. Meanwhile waiting for your smoky aubergine to cool down and your tomatoes are almost ready, place a pot of water to boil.
Peel the aubergine without being so picky to take it all off, some of the skin will give a more smoky flavour to your dish and you won't regret it. Place them in a food processor, or use your hand blender, together with the two garlic cloves, olive oil and the fresh basil. Blitz it till you obtain a smooth and velvety cream, taste it and season it as need it with salt and black pepper. And the smoky aubergine sauce is ready to use.
Your datterini confit is ready to come out of the oven and the pasta is ready to be cooked. As the water boil add the salt and drop the pasta in. The tagliatelle cooking time is 13 minutes, but it won't cook the whole time in the boiling water.
Ready for the fun part? I love to finish most of the pasta dishes the last 2 to 5 minutes in the frying pan. So make sure your pan is big enough to contain the amount of pasta you are cooking, plus the other 2 ingredients. Make the pan hot and do a quick sofritto with EVO, poached garlic and a poor quantity of the confit datterini. When the pasta cooking time is just 3 minutes away, drain it, but make sure to keep some of the cooking water, as will be needed to finish the pasta cooking process but inside the frying pan. With the tagliatelle in the hot pan, add a ladle of the kept water and stir the pasta with tongs. As you were making risotto, let the water absorb into the pasta and so add one more ladle, till the pasta reaches the perfect "al dente" texture. Time to add your tasty smoky aubergine sauce and the datterini confit to the pasta - keep some for garnish -, giving the last toss and mixing all the ingredients very well.
Plate your beautiful and smoothy pasta on the plate and finish it with some grated ricotta salata - or the yeast flakes - fresh basil leaf and the left tomatoes confit.
Enjoy your Smoky aubergine Pasta and datterini confit with a full bodied red wine such as a Nebbiolo or Brunello di Montalcino.
