Pasta with sardines in eggplant and tomato sauce

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 150 g eggplant(s)
• 1 onion(s), red
• 1 clove(s) garlic
• 200 g cherry tomatoes
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 200 g pasta (tortiglioni)
• some salt
• some pepper, mixed, from the mill
• ¼ tsp chili flakes
• 1 pinch(s) of sugar
• 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 50 g sardines in oil
• ½ bunch basil

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 15 minutes; Total time approx. 45 minutes

Cut the eggplant into roughly 1 cm cubes. Peel and finely dice the onion. Peel and finely chop the garlic clove. Rinse the cherry tomatoes and halve them, removing the stems. Drain the sardines. Rinse the basil, shake dry, and roughly chop the leaves. Cook the pasta in plenty of lightly salted water until al dente. Heat olive oil in a pan and fry the eggplant cubes until browned. Add the onions and garlic and fry briefly. Add the tomatoes and season everything with a little salt, sugar, chili flakes, 1 to 2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar, and a few grinds of mixed pepper, and sauté for about 10 minutes. Drain the pasta, reserving 150 ml of the cooking water. Carefully mix the pasta, some of the cooking water, and the sardines into the sauce. Add a little more of the pasta cooking water and season to taste, if desired. Sprinkle with basil.