Pasta alla Norma

hearty vegetarian eggplant dish from Sicily

Servings: 4 servings

Author:

Prep Time
1 hour

Cook Time
15 minutes

Course:

Main Course

Cuisine:

Italian

Keywords:

Vegetables Eggplant veggie Sicily

🧂 Ingredients

1 medium globe eggplant - large diced
3 cloves garlic - sliced
½ medium onion - diced
1 28-oz. can whole tomatoes - broken into chunks
½ pound uncooked small pasta such as shells, rigatoni, fusilli, penne, etc.
1 cup fresh ricotta
3 Tbsp. olive oil
salt
¼ cup dry red wine - optional

Instructions

1 Leaving the skin on, wash and cut the eggplant into large dice pieces about 1
inch. Place in a colander on top of a bowl. Add 1 Tbsp. salt to the eggplant and
mix with your hands to coat the eggplant pieces with salt. Set aside for 30
minutes to one hour. The salt will allow the eggplant to release its moisture
and remove any bitterness. It usually takes at least 30 minutes for the eggplant
to release a fair amount of its liquid. You can then give the pieces a gentle
squeeze to remove even more moisture. This step is important as it gives the
eggplant a nice meaty texture when cooked.
2 Next, place the eggplant pieces on a baking sheet and coat with 1 Tbsp. olive
oil. Roast at 400° F for 15 minutes until eggplant is soft but not mushy. Set
aside.
3 Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, heat 3 Tbsp. olive oil and add onion and garlic.
Saute for about 5 minutes until the onion begins to brown. Add red wine (if
using) and simmer to reduce for 1 -2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, turn down the
heat to a gentle simmer, partially cover, and let simmer for about 1 hour. Stir
occasionally. If the sauce is sticking to the pan or getting too thick, add some
water, 1 Tbsp. at a time.
4 Take the eggplant out of the oven and add directly to the tomato sauce. Cook the
pasta as per package directions. Drain (do not rinse) the pasta, keeping 1 cup
of pasta cooking water just in case. Pour the drained pasta directly into the
tomato/eggplant sauce and stir well to coat the pasta. Add a ladleful of pasta
water to help the pasta adhere to the sauce.
5 Serve immediately with a healthy dollop of ricotta cheese on top.

Pasta alla Norma

Course:

Cuisine:

Keywords:

🧂 Ingredients

Instructions

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