Pasta alla Norma

Difficulty: Easy

Working time: 30 min.

Resting time: 30 min.

Total: 60 min.

Servings: 2 persons.

Origin: Catania, Sicily, Italy

Pasta type: penne, rigatoni, spaghetti

About the recipe


Pasta alla Norma is a classic Sicilian dish from Catania, named after Vincenzo Bellini’s famous opera “Norma”. It consists of fried eggplants, an aromatic tomato sauce, fresh basil and salted ricotta (ricotta salata). This dish is a symbol of Sicilian cuisine and is characterized by its simple preparation and complex depth of flavour. Similar to other iconic Italian pasta dishes such as Spaghetti alla Puttanesca, Penne all’Arrabbiata or Spaghetti all’Amatriciana, Pasta alla Norma combines fresh, local ingredients to create a delicious and satisfying meal.

Ingredients


For 2 persons


300 g pasta (I use rigatoni)

300 g eggplant

200 ml sunflower oil

50 g salt plus more to taste

2 garlic cloves

1 tsp sugar

400 g peeled tomatoes

Black pepper

18 g basil leaves

50 g ricotta salata or pecorino

2 tablespoons olive oil

Video instructions


Picture guide


Cut the eggplant into 1 cm thick slices. 1 Halve the slices and cut into 1 cm wide strips. 2 Put one liter of water and 50 grams of salt in a bowl. 3

Place the eggplant strips in the bowl and leave to rest for 30 minutes. The salt water draws water out of the eggplant and makes it crispier (osmosis) 4 Drain the eggplant strips and gently squeeze out any excess water. 5 Heat the sunflower oil in a small pan (180-190 °C) and deep-fry the eggplant. 6 To use less sunflower oil, I divide the eggplant strips into two portions and fry them one after the other in a small pan with a diameter of 18 cm.

Spread the eggplant out on kitchen paper to keep it crispy. 7 Preheat the olive oil in a pan, 8 then add the garlic using a garlic press (or chop finely beforehand). 9

Fry over a low heat for about 30 seconds until the first signs of browning appear. 10 Add the peeled tomatoes, 11 Season with salt, pepper and sugar and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. Stir occasionally. 12

Cook the pasta so that it is ready at the same time as the tomato sauce. 13 Just before the pasta is ready, add the basil and 14 Add the eggplant to the pan. 15 I keep some of both for decorating.

Add the pasta to the pan, mix, 16 Grate the ricotta salata or pecorino over it, mix again 17 and serve on a nice plate. Serve sprinkled with the remaining eggplant, basil and some more cheese and enjoy! 18

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Do you love pasta as much as we do? Discover a range of pasta dishes, from Italian classics to the simple original recipe for carbonara!

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