A Supper to end the week on (with recipe link)

I was getting meals prepared for me while I was out of town last week, and it spoiled me so much that I forgot what I ever did with food prep. before last week. I got used to being pampered really easily. Anyway, so since I came back, I've been scouring the web for new recipes because I think I've also gotten kind of bored with the meals I make. I tried a couple of things that didn't do so well (aren't you lucky you have me to taste-test all of these for you?) and I finally hit a keeper.

This recipe for Rigatoni with Eggplant comes from Giada De Laurentiis at the Food network. It is so deliciously eggplanty, cheesy and tomatoey with crunchy pine nuts and mint adding both crunch and cool. So yummy.

Although there are lots of terrible reviews of it, please ignore them and give this a shot, at least if you like eggplant, that is. I'm so glad that I did. If you don't like eggplant, look away, look away. I'll post more recipes soon.

This tastes like it took all day to cook, but the hands on prep time is very short. Also, you don't have to use too many dishes and it tastes so delicious that it is worth pulling out the food processor for.

I'm willing to bet that the bad reviews come from people who can't follow directions. For example, I strongly suspect that the people who didn't find it saucy enough used grape instead of cherry tomatoes. Grape tomatoes are nowhere near as juicy as the cherry tomatoes that she calls for in the recipe. The cherry ones are totally round, whereas the grape ones are smaller and look a bit more like mini-roma tomatoes. Also, don't forget to reserve the pasta water, in case it is too dry for you. I didn't need to use any of it, but you might. On the other hand, if you like your pasta extra-saucy, and eggplanty, just use half the quantity of rigatoni and you will be happy.