Eggplant Pasta

I love eggplant.  Eggplant Parmesan is a bit laborious and can easily be greasy since it is fried.  This Alton Brown recipe is a great alternative to it.  I have made this several times and the most important thing is to make sure the eggplant is evenly and thinly sliced.  If it isn't, I have had bits that seemed a bit under done.  While  I have followed the instructions precisely in the past, I had to make some adjustments just for the sake of not shopping.  I had the cute baby eggplants from my Front Porch Picking basket, and I needed to use them soon.  I wanted to make this dish, but I didn't have the tomatoes.  I worked around this by using a bit of high quality jarred tomato sauce.  My resulting dish was a bit soupier than it had been in the past, but I enjoyed it none the less.

Eggplant Pasta

2    medium-large eggplants
Kosher salt,for purging
4 T  olive oil
1 t  garlic,minced
1/2 t  chile flakes
4    small tomatoes,seeded and chopped
1/2 c  cream
4 T  basil chiffonade
1/4 c  freshly grated Parmesan
Freshly ground pepper
Peel each eggplant leaving 1-inch of skin at the top and bottom
unpeeled.  Slice the eggplant thinly lengthwise, about 1/4-inch thick.
Evenly coat each slice with the salt and purge on a sheet pan fitted
with a rack for 30 minutes. Rinse with cold water and roll in paper
towels to dry. Slice the pieces into thin strips to resemble pasta.
In a large saute pan heat the oil. Add the garlic and chili flakes and
toast. Add the eggplant "pasta" and toss to coat. Add the tomatoes and
cook for 3 minutes. Add the cream and increase heat to thicken sauce.
Finally add the basil and Parmesan and toss to combine. Season with
pepper, no salt needed as the eggplant will have residual salt from the
purge. Serve immediately.