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Rigatoni alla Norma
Ingredients
- 1 lb rigatoni (or pasta of your choice)
- 1 large eggplant
- 3 garlic cloves
- fresh basil leaves
- 1 jar tomato sauce If you do not have your own, make the sauce in advance using onions, pasatta, and seasoning to your liking.
- 1 cup ricotta salata, grated Salted ricotta can be found in italian specialty stores
- frying olive oil not extra virgin please it will not withstand the heat.
Instructions
Prepare the Eggplant
- Prepare the eggplant first. You can choose to keep skin on or remove. I prefer it without. So peel first, if you are like me, if not, skip this step.
- Cut the eggplant into cubes. Then on a baking sheet lay some paper towel, and lay the eggplant on top of paper towel.
- Salt the eggplant and let sit for about 20 minutes. The salt will dry out the moisture from the eggplant.
- Then rinse the egpplant and pat it as dry as you can.
- In a large frying pan, add the frying olive oil and add some fresh basil leaves and whole garlic cloves .
- When the oil is hot enough, begin frying the eggplant in batches and then set aside.
Putting it Together
- Prepare your pasta water to a rolling boil and then add your pasta.
- Prepare your regular tomato sauce and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. Once your eggplant is ready add half of the cooked eggplant directly into the sauce.
- Add half of the grated ricotta salata directly to the sauce
- Add in the cooked pasta directly into the sauce.
- Serve on a dish and top with additional eggplant and ricotta salata.
Video
Who is Norma?
I had never really known about this traditional Sicilian dish growing up, despite growing up in a traditional Sicilian home. We had the typical eggplant things like caponata and eggplant cutlets or parmigiano style. It wasn’t until I went to this Sicilian restaurant in Brooklyn that I saw “Sicilian Rigatoni alla Norma” on the menu and gave it a try. If I am being honest, eggplant is not my favorite thing like I won’t go out of my way craving eggplant. But, something about the ricotta salata and the crispy eggplant had me really wanting more.
I went home that day, googled the crap out of this dish and learned that it was actually named after an opera signer since it was such a grand meal. I am guessing that is who Norma is. And it is a filling and grand meal that earns its name.
Note about the Recipe
As I have made this Sicilian Rigatoni alla Norma a few more times, I have no longer left the eggplant skin on. It left a weird texture to me and I prefer to peel it from now on. If the texture is not something you are primarily concerned with, you can totally skip that step and leave it on. For me, I rather have it nakie!
