Pasta alla Norma

Copyright Olive Groves

This recipe, originally from Catania, in Sicily, is now considered a traditional recipe in the whole Italian island. The story does not say if Bellini, the composer of the opera work Norma, also from Catania, actually liked this dish. However for sure the dish was named so as an homage to this opera work. Ricotta salata is the cheese of choice for this recipe. It can be found in Italian grocery shops, however it is quite rare. It can be replaced with Sicilian pecorino, or even with toasted bread crumbs, Pangrattato in Italian.

Ingredients (4 servings) :

• 2 purple and long aubergines

• 700 g of whole peeled tomatoes (or tomato passata if unavailbale)

• 2 garlic cloves, peeled, halved and germ removed

• 2 tea spoons of dried oregano or a branch of fresh oregano

• A handful of fresh basil leaves, washed

• Extra virgin olive oil Terraliva Cherubino IGP

• 400g of spaghetti

• Salt and pepper

Steps : 

1. wash the aubergines, remove the tips, slice them in 1cm wide rounds, and dispose them on a clean cloth. Spray liberally with fine sea salt, and let them give away their water and bitters for a minimum of 30 minutes ;

2. In the meantime, put a pan on a medium fire, and warm up 5 table spoons of extra virgin olive oil, the halved garlic cloves and oregano. Let it sizzle for a few seconds, then add the tomatoes and let it simmer on a low heat for 45 minutes. If you have a dans une casserole sur feu moyen, mettez 4 cuillères à soupe d’huile d’olive, l’ail et l’origan, ajoutez les tomates entières et laissez cuire à petit bouillon pendant 45 minutes. At this point, you may want to cover your pan with a splatter screen to avoid tomato stains all around your pan. At the end of this step, press the tomatoes and garlic cloves to a paste with a wooden spoon ;

3. While the tomato sauce cooks, you will be frying the aubergines to delicately crunchy chips. In a frying pan or a deep-frying pan, poor olive oil until 5cm deep, and let it heat up until about 160 degrees C. Add lot by lot the aubergines, which are now softer and less bitter, until golden and crunchy. Once friend, dispose them on towel paper or a dry colander and reserve for plating ;

4. Fill a deep pan with salted water and bring it to a bubbly boil ;

5. Once the water is boiling to big bubbles, plunge the spaghetti and let them cook uncovered, moving around with a spatula from time to time, for the length of time indicated on the packaging ;

6. Drain the spaghetti, put them back in the deep pan, and poor and tomato sauce ;

7. Plate them individually, and decorate with the fried aubergines, and slivers of ricotta salata, fresh basil leaves and freshly ground black pepper. Finish it off with a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, for instance the Sicilian Fiore del Belice by Tino Cavarra.