Pasta alla Norma
Tags: #italian #pasta #sicilian
Serving: 4 servings
Total time: 60 minutes
A Sicilian classic marrying al dente pasta with golden fried eggplant, a bright tomato-basil sugo, and salty ricotta salata.
Ingredients
- 320 g dried rigatoni
- 700 g eggplant
- 800 g whole peeled tomatoes (canned)
- 40 ml extra-virgin olive oil
- 300 ml light olive oil (for frying)
- 120 g ricotta salata
- 10 g garlic
- 10 g fresh basil leaves
- 40 g fine sea salt
- 3,000 ml water
Steps
- Wash the eggplant.
- Trim the eggplant ends.
- Cut the eggplant into 2 cm cubes.
- Set a colander over a bowl.
- Transfer the eggplant to the colander.
- Sprinkle the eggplant with 6 g fine sea salt.
- Toss the eggplant to coat.
- Let the eggplant drain for 30 minutes.
- Peel the garlic.
- Crush the tomatoes by hand in a bowl.
- Pour 30 ml extra-virgin olive oil into a saucepan.
- Add the garlic to the saucepan.
- Cook the garlic over medium heat until pale golden, 1–2 minutes.
- Add the crushed tomatoes and their juices to the saucepan.
- Simmer the sauce over medium-low heat for 20 minutes.
- Rinse the eggplant under cold water.
- Pat the eggplant dry thoroughly with paper towels.
- Pour 300 ml light olive oil into a deep skillet.
- Heat the oil to 180°C.
- Fry one-third of the eggplant until deep golden, 5–7 minutes.
- Lift the fried eggplant to a rack or paper towels.
- Repeat frying with the remaining eggplant in two batches.
- Sprinkle the fried eggplant with 1 g fine sea salt.
- Remove the garlic from the tomato sauce.
- Tear 6 g basil leaves into the sauce.
- Season the sauce with 3 g fine sea salt.
- Pour 3,000 ml water into a large pot.
- Bring the water to a rolling boil.
- Stir 30 g fine sea salt into the boiling water.
- Add 320 g rigatoni to the pot.
- Cook the pasta until al dente, following package time minus 1 minute.
- Reserve 150 ml pasta cooking water.
- Drain the pasta.