Eggplant Bolognese

I cooked with eggplant for the first time in my life. I came to like eggplant ever since I had the Trader Joe's eggplant parmesan in phyllo. Mmm. I was always intimidated to cook with it though, for some reason. But I found a great recipe for Eggplant Bolognese. The eggplant was really easy to cook with! The skin peels off nicely with a veggie peeler and the flesh has a nice spongy texture. It's nice to me, anyway.

Eggplant Bolognese- really chunky pasta sauce (6-8 servings)
8 Tbs olive oil
1 large eggplant, peeled and chopped in 1/2 in cubes
1 onion, finely chopped
1 green pepper, finely chopped
1 zucchini, quartered lengthwise, slized 1/4 in thick
1 garlic clove, minced
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
1 lb ground beef chuck
1 Tbs dried oregano
1 lb rigatoni
Parmesan cheese, optional

1. In a large pan, heat 6 Tbs of olive oil and add eggplant. Cook 6-8 min or until soft, stirring occasionally. Set aside.
2. In the same pan, add remaining 2 Tbs oil and cook onion, green pepper, zucchini and garlic and cook 7-10 min or until soft.
3. Add beef and cook until no longer pink.
4. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and cook pasta according to box directions
5. Add tomatoes, oregano and eggplant to beef/veggie mix. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer until sauce is thick (25 min).
6. Serve sauce over pasta. Top with Parmesan if desired.