Pasta alla Norma

Fried aubergine in tomato with hard ricotta grated over, not crumbled.

Not vegetarian — contains ricotta whose rennet the source does not name.

Ingredients

• 400 g maccheroni or rigatoni
• 2 large aubergines, in 2 cm cubes
• 600 g tinned San Marzano tomatoes
• 2 garlic cloves
• 120 g ricotta salata
• a large handful of basil
• 700 ml sunflower oil, for frying, which is poured off
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1.5 teaspoons salt

Method

1. Salt the aubergine cubes in a colander for 45 minutes, then rinse and dry them thoroughly.
2. FRY THEM IN DEEP OIL, not a spoonful in a pan. Aubergine is a sponge and shallow-fried it drinks the lot and arrives greasy; deep oil at 180C seals it in two minutes and it comes out light. Drain on a rack.
3. Warm the olive oil with the garlic, add the tomatoes crushed by hand, and simmer 20 minutes with a pinch of salt.
4. Cook the pasta and finish it in the sauce with a ladle of its water.
5. Fold most of the fried aubergine through at the end so it keeps its shape, and keep some back for the top.
6. GRATE THE RICOTTA SALATA OVER, DO NOT CRUMBLE IT. It is a hard salted cheese, nothing like fresh ricotta, and grated fine it dissolves into the sauce where lumps just sit there cold.
7. Basil torn in off the heat.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes