Baked Pasta n’casciata alla Norma.
Today I combined two classic Sicilian dishes, the pasta n’casciata and the pasta alla Norma.
I was sure it would turn out to be a masterpiece.
We are talking about a complete dish that can be prepared in advance, and then baked 10 minutes before serving.
The eggplants should be fried, but if you want to make it a lighter dish, you can bake them sliced as I’ll explain below.

thought for you:

Cost: Economical
Preparation time: 1 Hour
Portions: 4
Cooking methods: Electric oven
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All seasons

431.51 Kcal

calories per serving

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Energy 431.51 (Kcal)
Carbohydrates 44.70 (g) of which sugars 4.47 (g)
Proteins 17.38 (g)
Fat 22.23 (g) of which saturated 1.70 (g)of which unsaturated 0.86 (g)
Fibers 7.25 (g)
Sodium 729.36 (mg)

Indicative values for a portion of 399 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

14 oz eggplants (purple)
24.7 oz tomato sauce (fresh)
1 clove garlic
to taste basil (plenty)
1.8 oz salted ricotta (grated)
5.3 oz smoked provola
10.6 oz pasta (casarecce)
to taste salt
to taste extra virgin olive oil

Baked Pasta n’casciata alla Norma

Tools

Cutting board
Baking pan
Frying pan
Baking dish
Pot
Colander
Oven

Preparation: Baked Pasta n’casciata alla Norma

Let’s prepare the eggplants

as I was saying above, you can either bake or fry them.
For the baked ones, you don’t need to salt them, just slice them to about 0.2 inches thick and place them on a baking sheet, with just a pinch of salt and a very light brush of extra virgin olive oil.
The oven should already be preheated to 375°F. After 5 minutes, you need to turn them over and cook for another 5.
If instead you want to fry the eggplants, slice or cube them as you prefer, place them in a colander, and between each layer, add some salt.
Let them drain for about 30 minutes, then rinse them and pat them dry with a cloth, then in a pan add plenty of seed oil,
and make sure it’s well heated, then fry, without adding more salt. Once done, let them drain in a colander from excess oil.
The sauce is very simple, pour the tomato sauce into a pot, along with 1 garlic clove with its skin, a bit of basil leaves, and cover with a splatter screen.
Lower the heat and let it cook for about 20 minutes. At the end of cooking, remove the garlic, and season with extra virgin olive oil and salt
It’s time to put the water for the pasta on the stove, and as soon as it boils, cook a format that holds up well to cooking.
I preferred casarecce. Drain 2 minutes before the time indicated on the package.
In the meantime, chop the provola and grate the salted ricotta. Coarsely chop the eggplants with a fork, and set the condiments aside.
When the pasta is ready, drain it and season it with half of the condiments, mix well.
At this point, pour half of the pasta into an ovenproof dish, add all the ingredients except for half of the remaining provola.
Add the rest of the pasta, and finally make the last layer of sauce and provola.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F for about 10 minutes.
Serve with plenty of basil,
Baked Pasta n’casciata alla Norma is now ready to be served.
If you desire a grill effect, cook another 5 minutes at 400°F under the broiler