Typical Italian Food: Pasta alla Norma - Sicily

by: Amanda

Ingredients:

1 pound spaghetti or macaroni 

3 pounds tomatoes (San Marzano)

basil to taste

1 tablespoon of sugar

2 garlic cloves lightly smashed

2 long eggplants, medium size

EVOO

ricotta salata 

If you are planning to make your own pasta, I used 1 pound semolina flour eyeing the water, EVOO, because depending on the day you might need more or less. On a wooden surface pour the flour to make a volcano shape. Add some water and EVOO and mix with your fingers until the dough is stringy, not too much water to form a ball, you want the machine to put it together. 

Once you have reached the coarse texture of the pasta add it to the extruder machine to make the shape you choose. Today I made macaroni, it was fun!

Let the pasta dry out on the wooden board until you need them.

Meanwhile start to make the sauce.

Slice up the eggplant into long strips about 1/2 inch thick. Add them to a colander, cover with salt, and put a bowl onto to weigh them down to squeeze out any access water. To do this will make it so they do not absorb too much EVOO when frying. 

While your eggplant is squeezing, place a pan full of water on the stove till boiling and add the tomatoes for about 2 minutes or until the skin starts to split. Remove them from the water and let them cool enough that you can peel them, cutting off the tops.

In a sauce pan warm up one tablespoon of EVOO and the garlic until it becomes fragrant, coarsly chop the tomatoes then add them to the garlic, stir, lower the heat to a light simmer and add the basil, salt, sugar and let cook until it has reduced a bit and the flavors start to become equilibrated. 

While the tomatoes are reducing and your pasta is drying, take a shallow fry pan add some EVOO about 1/4 of an inch heat up the oil and lightly fry the eggplant until they are crispy. Place them on some paper towels to absorb the excess oil and set aside. 

When you are ready to serve, boil up some water for the pasta, add some salt to your pasta water, cook until slightly under al dente, slightly crunchy. Add the eggplant to the tomato sauce and cook together, remove the garlic cloves, then add the pasta to the sauce and finish cooking the pasta in the sauce, add some pasta water to the sauce to help it cover all the pasta and give it some starch to help it stick to the pasta. 

Once the pasta has been cooked to your liking, plate it and finish with the grated ricotta salata. Buon Appetito! 

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