Baked harvest pasta

This dish is self-named based on recipes I've seen before but weren't exactly what I was looking for. I'm a huge fan of acorn squash, and a trip to Trader Joe's earlier in the week inspired me to make a baked pasta dish. We usually do traditional boiled spaghetti, so I wanted to change things up a bit. I remember my mom made something similar but in conjunction with chicken I think. All I remember is cheesy, pasta-y goodness. Of course I had to keep up the autumnal theme. I couldn't remember what pasta we had at home, so to be sure we had some, I got a rigatoni which I really like for a dish like this. The pasta has to be substantial to hold up to all the ingredients.  We also grabbed mozzarella cheese and fresh basil. Oh, the essentials of an Italian kitchen!

Sorry for the darkness. Our kitchen doesn't have great lighting.

 First I peeled and cubed one eggplant and one white acorn squash. I only used about half of the yielded cubes (we roasted the rest the following night). I threw in some chunks of onion (not finely diced). Ever since I discovered I enjoy cooked onions, I like to taste them in my meal and minced just wasn't gonna do it. So I threw the squash and eggplant in a hot pan with some olive oil,salt, and pepper and let them get to browning slightly. I like a decent sear on my veggies and so does hubby. I made the mistake of thinking they'd cook equally, so I had to scoop out the eggplant after about 10 minutes since it was getting really soft. Neither of us wanted squishy veggies in the bake, so I wanted to cook them until just  tender so that they'd finish off in the oven. Once it was just the squash left in the pan, I threw in the onions so they could soften a bit.

Meanwhile, I threw fire-roasted tomatoes into a saucepan and added chopped shallots (LOVE these little things) and naturally, an excess of garlic. Had to throw in some Fox Point seasoning from Penzey's, too! And who could forget the lovely basil. Mmmmmmmm! I added some to the sauce and larger chunks to the bake itself. I was also boiling the pasta to be almost al dente. At that point, everything was ready to marry together

We decided to throw on some basil leaves on top of the mozzarella for a prettiness factor. (Admittedly, this was a bad move. We had to remove it while everything was baking because it was starting to brown a bit.)

Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the finished product, but I'm sure you can imagine its goodness. I was too busy eating to take more pictures, so there's your proof that this dish is worthwhile! The recipe below is an approximation since I did a lot of it by sight and taste.

1/2 white acorn squash, peeled and cubed

1/2 eggplant, peeled and cubed

1 small onion chopped

2 Tbs Olive oil for sauteeing, salt & pepper to taste

12 oz  rigatoni pasta

16 oz of tomato sauce (store bought or homemade)

1/4 cup fresh basil leaves

8 oz sliced mozzarella