This traditional Sicilian dish makes good use of seasonal summer ingredients. From GialloZafferano, Italy’s #1 food website.
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Hi GialloZafferano viewers and welcome to our kitchen. Today let’s take a trip down to the beautiful island of Sicily to make a traditional dish from Catania — Pasta alla Norma. Pasta alla Norma encapsulates all of the beautiful aromas from the sunny island, like basil, oil, and tomatoes and of course eggplant which are the base of the dish. Let’s see what ingredients we’ll need to make it.
• 14oz of spaghetti or rigatoni which are also used often
• 2 medium sized eggplants
• 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• Pepper, salt
• 2 cloves of garlic • Coarse salt
• 3 cups of tinned peeled tomatoes
• A dozen or so fresh basil leaves
• 7 oz of ricotta salata
• Olive oil for frying.
Let’s make our Pasta alla Norma.
First of all, wash and dry the eggplant and take off the leaves and stem. Now, cut the eggplant into slices of at most 1/3 of an inch. You can use a mandolin if you want even slices, or you can simply cut the eggplant with a knife. Once you’ve sliced it up, layer the slices in a sieve, and finish each layer with a sprinkling of coarse salt. This will encourage the water in the eggplant to drain out. To catch the liquid, place the sieve over a plate or bowl. Once you’re finished layering the slices, and sprinkling the top with salt, all you need to do is place a plate inside the sieve over the slices and place a weight on top of this. Let the slices drain for at least an hour.
While the eggplant is draining, place into a pot the 4 tablespoons of oil and the garlic which you should let get lightly golden for a few seconds. Now, add the tomatoes. Of course, if it’s the season for them, it’s better to use fresh tomatoes, which you can peel by piercing and dipping into boiling water. Once the tomatoes have softened, pass them through a food mill or mash them with a fork for a more rustic sauce. Put the sauce back on the heat to thicken, season it, and then take it off the heat while adding 6 basil leaves torn into pieces.
When the eggplant have finished draining remove them from the sieve, rinse them with cold water, dry them well with kitchen roll. When they’re try it’s time to fry them in olive oil until they’re just golden.
When you’ve finished frying the eggplant, put aside 12 nice looking slices and cut the rest into strips. The whole slices will serve to garnish the finished dish. Put the pasta up to boil in plenty of salted water and in the meantime grate the ricotta salata. In a large pan put half of the sauce you prepared before and the sliced eggplant. When the pasta is al dente drain it and add it to the sauce. Now, mix it in the pan for a few seconds and then you’ll be ready to plate it.
Now finish the dish by putting a bit of tomato sauce over the top, some slices of eggplant, a little grated ricotta, and a few basil leaves. Our Pasta alla Norma is ready to be eaten. From Sonia and GialloZafferano, bye and see you next video recipe.