- Pasta alla Norma, sautéed eggplant with tomato, served with basil, grated Ricotta Salata and optional chili flakes. A Sicilian dish. Recipe:
Serves 2 as entree, 4-5 as a primo piatto
1/2 pound imported Italian pasta
2 large/3 medium eggplants
Sea salt
Evoo
Fresh ground black pepper
1 Clove garlic
1 can San Marzano tomatoes
1 cup fresh basil leaves
Ricotta salata to grate
Red chili flakes to garnish (optional)
Fresh chopped Italian parsley (garnish, optional)
Instructions
Dice the eggplant into half inch cubes. Sprinkle with salt and place in a colander -5 minutes. Rinse, dry, set aside.
Heat evoo in large sauté pan.
Add half the eggplant, sauté til golden brown, remove and place on paper towels to absorb oil.
Sauté the rest, add the garlic clove (if you want more garlic, slice it up, otherwise leave it whole and remove at the end before serving. Do not burn. Add additional evoo if needed for sauté.
When eggplant is soft, add tomatoes, crush by hand. Adjust salt and add pepper to taste and some of the basil. Optional to add cup of dry red or white wine to deglaze on medium high heat. Stir in. Then turn down heat. Simmer medium heat about ten minutes.
If there is any excess oil at this point in the pan, skim or blot it out.
Heat water to rolling boil. Add salt. Drop pasta. Rigatoni work well, as do penne.
Cook to shy al dente.
Save cup of cooking water.
Toss pasta with sauce and a splash then another splash if needed of cooking water to help bind over medium heat. Stir and simmer a couple minutes.
Plate, garnish with some of the sautéed plain eggplant from earlier, shaved ricotta salata (pecorino or Parmigiano as alternatives), chopped parsley, chili flakes, basil, etc. A little cool ricotta is also nice with this.
For Sorrento style, stir in diced fresh mozzarella while tossing pasta and sauce together until it becomes stringy. They call it “Aumm Aumm” as in it’s yummy!!!
