Eggplant Tomato Pasta (Print Version)

# Ingredients:

→ For the Pasta

01 - 12 oz (340g) of short pasta, like casarecce if you have it
02 - 23 oz (660g) of Italian eggplants (around 2 medium-sized ones)
03 - 30 oz (850g) of canned tomatoes, peeled
04 - 2 big garlic cloves
05 - A handful of fresh basil leaves
06 - 1/3 cup of top-quality extra-virgin olive oil
07 - Some salt and freshly ground black pepper to season
08 - 1/3 cup of grated ricotta salata cheese

# Instructions:

01 - Chop the eggplant into little cubes that are easy to eat. If you’d like, you can also cut a few thin slices for decoration. Toss the cubes in a colander, sprinkle plenty of salt, and let it sit over a plate for about 15–20 minutes so the eggplant sweats. Pat them dry with paper towels after that to get rid of the liquid and extra salt.
02 - While waiting on the eggplant, warm up 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a saucepan or pot. Toss in the garlic and cook it until it gets golden but not dark. Add the canned tomatoes (crush them with a wooden spoon) and scatter some basil leaves in there. Sprinkle some salt, cover the pot, and let it cook gently for 20 minutes.
03 - Heat up a pan and pour in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Fry the eggplant cubes in small amounts at a time, cooking each batch for a few minutes on both sides until they're a nice golden brown. Scoop them out and put them on a plate covered with paper towels to soak up any leftover oil. Repeat until all the cubes are fried.
04 - Take the tomato sauce off the heat and purée it until smooth using an immersion blender or a regular one.
05 - Stir half of the fried eggplant into the blended tomato sauce. Keep cooking it over low to medium heat with the lid on for 10 minutes to allow the flavors to mix.
06 - At the same time, bring a big pot of water to a boil, add a lot of salt, and cook the pasta till it’s about 80% done (a couple of minutes shy of the time suggested on the box). Make sure to save some of the pasta water before draining it.
07 - Throw the semi-cooked pasta into the pan with the tomato sauce. Add some reserved pasta water and the remaining eggplant cubes (keep a few aside for toppings). Cook everything together for 2 minutes, stirring, so the pasta gets coated in sauce and finishes cooking perfectly.
08 - Spoon the Pasta alla Norma into dishes, top with the leftover fried eggplant cubes, and sprinkle with plenty of grated ricotta salata.

# Notes:

01 - Salting the eggplant helps get rid of extra liquid and any bitterness.
02 - Ricotta salata is aged and salted ricotta cheese. If you can’t find it, pecorino romano cheese works great too.

Back