The pasta alla Norma is a typical dish of Sicilian cuisine, a true celebration of Mediterranean flavors. The original recipe uses fried eggplants, fresh tomato, basil, and salted ricotta.
The name of this dish is said to derive from Vincenzo Bellini’s theatrical opera “Norma,” which celebrated beauty and goodness, just like this delicious dish.
Pasta alla Norma is a dish best enjoyed in good company. Preparing and sharing it with friends and family is an experience that unites and warms the heart. Every time this dish is served at the table, it celebrates Sicilian culinary tradition and the love for food made with passion and genuine ingredients.
In this recipe, I used tomato pulp, but if you want to keep the tradition, you should first sauté the tomatoes in a pan with garlic and oil for at least 10 minutes, then proceed with the recipe as described below.
For those who love cooking, I also remind you of other recipes like
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Energy 1,535.58 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 83.81 (g) of which sugars 7.24 (g)
- Proteins 17.24 (g)
- Fat 130.65 (g) of which saturated 17.66 (g)of which unsaturated 103.36 (g)
- Fibers 7.30 (g)
- Sodium 854.18 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 210 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 2 eggplants (medium)
- 2 cups oil vegetable oil (for frying the eggplants)
- to taste fine salt (for draining the eggplants)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 14 oz tomato pulp
- 8 leaves basil
- 1.4 oz salted ricotta (you can be generous)
- 12.7 oz mezze maniche rigate
- to taste coarse salt
- 4 cups water (for boiling the pasta)
Tools
Here are some tools to help you with the recipe, you probably have them at home, otherwise click on the links to buy them.
- 1 Cutting Board
- 1 Knife
- 1 Colander
- 2 Frying Pans
- 1 Grater
Preparation
The first step is to cut the eggplants into slices not too thin, place them in a colander, one close to the other, creating more layers of eggplants and salting each layer a bit. After slicing them all, cover with a lid smaller than the colander’s circumference, so you can press the eggplants well. Help with this operation by placing a small weight on the lid. Position the colander on a bowl or in the sink, as the eggplants will release their naturally bitter water. You should let the eggplants rest like this for at least 30 minutes, but even longer.
After the resting period, take back the eggplants, put them a bit at a time on the cutting board, and with a sharp knife with a smooth blade cut them into chunks. I take 4/5 eggplants, stack them one on top of the other, then proceed to cut first with vertical cuts that I then cross horizontally. While cutting the eggplants into cubes, place a pan with vegetable oil on the heat and bring it to temperature for frying. When the oil is hot, start frying the eggplants.
Fry the eggplants in batches, keeping the oil temperature constant, they should become nicely golden. Drain them with the help of a slotted spoon and always place them on the colander or a rack, to let them dry from the oil but remain crispy.
After frying the eggplants, in another pan put the tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil with the garlic cut into large pieces and let them brown. When the garlic is well browned, you can remove it with a fork and add the tomato pulp and hand-torn basil to the pan. Salt the sauce, cover with the lid, and let it cook for about 5 minutes. After this time, add part of the fried eggplants to the sauce and let it cook for another 10 minutes or so, do not let the sauce reduce too much. Keep some fried eggplants aside to decorate the plates after plating.
While preparing the sauce, put the pot with water on the stove to boil the pasta, salt the water, and bring to a boil.
When the water boils, cook the pasta for the minutes indicated on the package for al dente cooking. Drain the pasta with a slotted spoon and gradually put it in the sauce pan, toss the pasta for a couple of minutes. By draining the pasta with just the slotted spoon, you will find that you won’t need to add cooking water to toss it. However, if you see it drying too much, you will always have more water in the pot to add if necessary.
After tossing the pasta, the last fantastic ingredient remains to be added, the salted ricotta. You can add some to the pan and grate more on each individual plate, adding other chunks of fried eggplants and a few fresh basil leaves to the plates.
NOTES
Pasta alla Norma is a dish that conquers the palate with its authenticity, the fried eggplants give it a unique flavor that is enhanced by the salted ricotta. I recommend consuming this splendid dish hot, as you prepare it, but it also tastes good at room temperature if you decide to take it with you to work or on a trip.
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