Name: Pasta with Eggplant (Pasta alla Norma)
Yield: Serves 6 to 8
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: ½ to 1 cup canola or other vegetable oil; 8 ounces ricotta salata, shredded or Greek feta cheese, crumbled*; 2 eggplants; 1 pound uncooked spaghetti or macaroni; 2 cups Mama Milina’s Spicy Tomato Sauce; Kosher salt

Preparation info

Serves
6 to 8

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Sicilian Feasts

By Giovanna Bellia La Marca

Published 2023

About

Brush or spray the eggplant slices with olive oil, and grill or broil them, but the very best flavor comes by frying them in oil. I like to fry them in vegetable oil rather than in olive oil, but you can do either.

Ingredients

2 eggplants
Kosher salt
½ to 1 cup canola or other vegetable oil

Method

Cut the eggplants lengthwise into ½-inch slices. Layer them in a colander sprinkling salt in between the layers. Top the stack of slices with a weight (I use a water-filled tea kettle) and let them drain off the dark bitter juices for at least 30 minutes. When ready to fry them, rinse off the salt, dry on paper towels, and fry in the hot oil.

Cook the pasta according to the package dire