Baked eggplant pasta with raw pasta

Cut the eggplant into big cubes and fry in a lot of olive oil about 20 minutes, stirring almost constantly, until soft and mahogany brown.

Season the eggplant with salt, pepper and chili flakes and set aside.

Control version: boil half a pound of thick penne to a little less than al dente and drain.

Divide the eggplant between two dishes and add three cups of tomato sauce, a cup of ricotta and five balls of fresh mozzarella to each, with torn basil, chili flakes, pepper and a pinch of salt.

Control version: stir the boiled drained pasta through and bake.

Raw pasta version: stir a quarter pound of dry pasta into a quarter batch, add just enough water to submerge everything, and add a little extra salt to compensate for not salting boiling water.

Taste the watered sauce; it should taste a little too salty on its own because the pasta will take salt from it as it bakes.

Bake an hour, uncovered for a dark crisp top, a few extra minutes if it needs them.

Water test: boiling exactly half a pound, 227 grams, of dry pasta in exactly one kilo of water leaves 450 grams of water; 275 grams went into the pasta, which weighs about 500 grams drained, and 275 grams evaporated.

Formula: put the dry pasta in the dish and add roughly twice its own weight in water, to cover both absorption and evaporation.