Chef Edi takes inspiration from his hometown of Positano, Italy to create his traditional cheesy baked pasta dish.

Caporalessa Bucatini 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Fill a medium heavy-bottomed skillet with canola oil and heat over medium heat. Bring oil to 300 degrees as measured with a clip-on thermometer.

Place chopped eggplants into a fine-mesh strainer and season with salt. Allow salt to extract water from eggplant in strainer for about 20 minutes.

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to boiling. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and set aside.

Bucatini pasta is shaped like spaghetti but is hollow on the inside. This not only helps the pasta cook faster, but also absorbs more of the homemade pasta sauce.

Meanwhile, add olive oil to a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and red pepper flakes. Saute 30 seconds to 1 minute or until fragrant. Stir in tomatoes, capers, black olives, and 1-oz. fresh basil. Simmer on medium-low heat for 30 minutes.

Remove drained eggplants from strainer and pat dry with paper towels. Toss eggplants with flour and fry, in batches, in preheated oil. Drain on a paper towel lined plate; set aside.

Spoon ½ cup of pasta sauce into a 9x13-inch baking pan. Top with half of the breadcrumbs.

Toss pasta and remaining sauce together in a large bowl; mix in fried eggplants. Place 1/3 of the pasta into prepared baking pan. Top with 1/3 provolone, 1/3 mozzarella, 1/3 Parmigiano Reggiano, 1/3 Pecorino Romano, and 1/3 remaining chopped fresh basil. Repeat layers topping with remaining half of breadcrumbs. Cover tightly with aluminum foil.

Bake 35 minutes. Remove from oven and remove foil from pan. Preheat oven to broil on HIGH. Broil 2 to 4 minutes or until cheese and bread crumbs are golden brown. Serve warm.