Heat up a pan on medium heat and pour in 5 tablespoons olive oil. Add chopped onion, 2 pinches coarse salt and sauté until golden. Add chopped garlic and sauté less than a minute until cooked. Turn the heat down to avoid burning the garlic. Add diced eggplant, I’m using Italian Eggplant and have left the skins on, you can definitely use another variety. Add 2 pinches salt. Stir and cook until tender. Eggplant absorbs oil so add a little more olive oil while cooking if you need to.
Eggplant should be cooked but not mushy. Add crushed red pepper and dried oregano. Stir for 30 seconds. Then add crushed tomatoes, canned works well for this recipe. 1/4 tsp coarse salt and 1 tbsp sugar. Give it a stir. When it bubbles, cover and cook on medium low heat for 10 minutes, stirring in between. The sauce should reduce and get thicker. If it hasn't, cook for 5 more minutes.
Taste and adjust salt and sugar if you need to. It’s ready to be tossed with cooked pasta. You can always add some fresh basil leaves, grated parmesan cheese and even a splash of heavy cream or half and half to mellow out the acidity of the tomatoes.
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