Grandma’s Pasta alla Norma recipe. Tomato sauce, ricotta salata, fried eggplant and the Original Pasta alla Norma are ready! A cornerstone of Sicilian traditional cuisine like pasta with sardines and pasta with cuttlefish ink, Pasta alla Norma is grandma’s recipe for a simple yet sensational dish!
Pasta alla Norma originates in Catania and is defined by the typical flavors of summer: ripe red tomatoes, fresh fried golden eggplants, garlic and ricotta salata, which together create a unique Mediterranean bouquet of aromas and tastes. It is said that the name came from the Sicilian playwright Nino Martoglio, who compared the dish’s goodness to the beauty of Bellini’s opera “Norma”. Rich in fragrance, color and genuine flavors, Pasta alla Norma is perhaps the most famous dish of the city of Catania and despite its extreme simplicity has a rich and special taste.
The tomato purée used for Pasta alla Norma should ideally be made from fresh tomatoes, at least in summer. The recipe requires no heavy sautéing or thickening agents, no onion, only aromatics such as garlic to be added during the sauce’s cooking and fresh basil to be added at the end, finished with a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil — that’s all!
What truly makes Pasta alla Norma a real Pasta alla Norma is the fried eggplant, preferably cut into slices rather than cubes, arranged on top of the plateful of pasta. Finally, the signature touch is the ricotta salata, which must never be missing in an original Pasta alla Norma.

Let’s head to the kitchen — I’ll walk you through the recipe step by step. If you want to stay updated with all my recipes, follow my Facebook page (here) and my Instagram profile (here).
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Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Inexpensive
Preparation time: 1 Hour
Portions: 5 servings
Cooking methods: Stovetop, Frying
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: Spring, Summer and Fall

Ingredients to make Pasta alla Norma

14 oz (about 1 2/3 cups) tomato purée (rustic)
1 clove Garlic (if desired)
to taste Basil (fresh)
to taste Extra virgin olive oil
2 Eggplants (shiny and firm)
to taste Salt (to draw out the eggplants' moisture)
to taste Vegetable oil (for frying)
to taste Salt (for the sauce)
14 oz (about 4 cups dry) pasta (short shapes — rustic types such as penne, maccheroni, rigate…)
to taste Ricotta salata

Tools

2 Frying pans
1 Pot

How to make the original Pasta alla Norma:

For the preparation of the tomato purée, see the homemade purée recipe; alternatively buy a good quality one. Then prepare the eggplants, which you can fry in slices as done traditionally, or cook in cubes for convenience. The purée should be seasoned with salt, you can add one or two crushed garlic cloves, reduce it over the heat and finish off the heat with oil and basil.

Rinse the eggplants and decide whether to peel them or not. Cut them into cubes or slices, place them in a bowl, sprinkle with a handful of salt and let rest for 30 minutes. Rinse, squeeze and pat dry with a kitchen cloth.
Then fry them in plenty of high-oleic sunflower oil (high-oleic sunflower oil is suitable for frying — just check the label). When they are nicely golden, lift them out with a slotted spoon and place them on kitchen paper to remove excess oil.
Cook the pasta, drain it al dente, toss it with the tomato purée, plate it, arrange the eggplants over the pasta, sprinkle with a generous “snowfall” of ricotta salata and serve immediately.
Our pasta is ready to be enjoyed — oh, what an aroma.
If you happen to have leftover Pasta alla Norma, store it in the fridge for up to 24 hours. Before eating, put it in a heavy-bottomed pan, add a generous drizzle of oil and heat over high heat, stirring occasionally. When it has browned and formed a golden crust on the surface, you can plate it — you’ll see that the pasta “cca sassa fritta” (with the sauce) will be delicious!
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