Jim Dixon wrote about food for WW for more than 20 years, but these days most of his time is spent at his olive oil-focused specialty food business Wellspent Market. Jim’s always loved to eat, and he encourages his customers to cook by sending them recipes every week through his newsletter. We’re happy to have him back creating some special dishes just for WW readers.

Fall arrived, both officially and meteorologically, last week. That caprese salad you ate on the deck one pleasantly warm evening not so long ago hits different when an atmospheric river emphasizes that the Pacific Northwest’s damp and gray period is here. Just a glance out the window—or even worse, having to actually go outside—triggers a longing for a bowl of hot soup.

But it was nice at the farmers market earlier last week, and you’ve got a kitchen full of summer produce at its peak. Just chopping stuff up, drizzling it heavily with good olive oil, and eating outside while the sun is shining is no longer an option. A wet evening is, however, perfect for a bowl of pasta.

So chop up that eggplant, those peppers, and the tight-skinned tomatoes sitting in a bowl on your counter. The recipe below is more of an approach than anything else. If you don’t have eggplant, use zucchini. And while local vegetables are so good right now, you could make this with everyday supermarket produce and it would still taste pretty good.

My friend, the late Katherine Deumling, called her herb garden a green pantry, and if you’ve got one now’s the time to clean it out. I moved mine into pots in my south-facing driveway where they grow better, and one of the best things about summer eating is walking out your front door and grabbing handfuls of parsley, mint and basil, along with the occasional oddball such as lemon verbena, red shiso, or epazote. If I’ve got fresh herbs, I like to use a lot of them, and while the more tender ones might last for another couple of months, they don’t really like the cold. So use ‘em if you got ‘em.

End of Summer Pasta

1 smallish eggplant, about 2 cups chopped

4-6 Jimmy Nardello or similar sweet peppers, sliced

1 sweet onion, chopped

2-3 medium tomatoes, chopped

4-6 cloves garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon kosher-style sea salt

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

1 pound semolina pasta, preferably a shaped pasta

Handful or more fresh herbs, about 1 cup chopped

Slice the eggplant, unpeeled, into roughly 1/2-inch cubes. Heat olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high. Add the eggplant, spread into a single layer, and let cook for about 5 minutes without stirring or moving. Stir the eggplant, scraping the pan if any is stuck, and cook for another 5 minutes.

Add the peppers and onion with the salt and cook for another 5 minutes, then add the tomatoes and garlic. Reduce heat to medium and let everything cook vigorously for about 5 minutes or more. If the tomatoes are especially juicy, cook longer, stirring often, to reduce any liquid. When most of the liquid has cooked off, remove from the heat and stir in the chopped herbs.

Heat a large pot of water to cook the pasta. When it boils, add the pasta and a few pinches of salt and cook until done, either the time indicated on the package or the way you like it. When it’s ready, drain, return to the pot, and stir in the cooked vegetables. Dish into bowls, drizzle with more olive oil, and eat immediately.