Grilled aubergine (eggplant) & roast tomato pasta

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F or 180 degrees C.
2. Place the tomatoes on a baking tray. Sprinkle with garlic and drizzle with the olive oil. Toss the tomatoes until they are well-coated in olive oil. Place in the oven and roast them for 1 hour, or until they just start to char a little around the edges. (Eating burnt anything probably isn't good for you, so do this at your own risk, or turn off the oven a little earlier than I do.) If the other ingredients aren't ready yet, just leave the tomatoes in the turned-off oven to keep warm.(Roasting might not actually take the full hour, it depends on your oven and the tomatoes you use, so keep an eye on them and toss occasionally so that they cook evenly.)
3. Sprinkle aubergines generously with salt (you'll be rinsing this off later, so don't worry about your blood pressure too much at this point), and place in a colander to drain for half an hour - this leeches out the bitterness aubergines can have. Then thoroughly rinse each of the aubergine slices to get the salt off, and pat dry with kitchen towel.
4. Lightly oil a griddle pan and grill the aubergine slices in it until they are cooked and have a nice dark criss-cross pattern. Once they are grilled, cut each of the aubergine slices into bite size pieces
5. Remove the tomatoes from oven and put them in a large bowl, including all the olive oil and juices in the baking tray with them. Add the aubergine, pasta, basil, and drizzle with a bit of balsamic vinegar. Add salt and pepper to taste. Toss everything together and garnish the toasted almonds, and presto!
Source of recipe: Born from my love of aubergines, grilled aubergines, and the combination of aubergine, tomato and basil