The New York Times has a good compendium of pasta recipes that they say are frugal, although the asparagus pesto (love it) may not be too thrifty. They feature a lot of the ingredients I love, like lemon, anchovies and cauliflower. Definitely check it out.
In a separate article, the Times also provides some eggplant recipes from Sicily, where eggplants are big (as they should be). You'll find them here.
