Pasta alla Norma

Name: Pasta alla Norma (Pasta with Eggplant)
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 30 milliliters (2 tablespoons) olive oil; 60 grams (½ cup) sliced red onion, slices cut in half if onion is large; Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper; 170 grams (6 ounces) eggplant with skin, cut into 1¼-centimeter (½-inch) dice (2 cups) and disgorged; 20 grams (3½ tablespoons) all-purpose flour; 250 milliliters (1 cup) canola or grapeseed oil; 170 grams (6 ounces) ridged pasta, such as rigatoni; 70 grams (¼ cup) ricotta salata; 1 clove garlic, coarsely chopped; Pinch of red pepper flakes; Pinch of dried oregano; 10 grams (⅓ cup) torn basil leaves; 250 milliliters (1 cup) whole, canned Italian plum tomatoes with their juices, puréed in a food mill; 60 milliliters (¼ cup) vegetable stock or water

Pasta with Eggplant

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Italian Cuisine

By International Culinary Center , French Culinary Institute , Cesare Casella and Stephanie Lyness

Published 2021

About

Pasta alla Norma is a traditional Sicilian dish of pasta dressed with fried eggplant, tomato sauce, basil, and ricotta salata. The dish, which was already a popular dish throughout Sicilia, got its name from the opera Norma, by Vincenzo Bellini, who was born in the city of Catania, in Sicilia. Rigatoni, derived from the word rigato, meaning “ridged,” is a perennial favorite in parts of southern Italy, and particularly in Sicilia. The ridges on th