Pasta alla Norma by @juliaostro

Name: Pasta alla Norma by @juliaostro
Ingredients: 1 eggplant (around 350 g); 60 ml extra virgin olive, plus extra for shallow frying; 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped; 400 g tin Mutti Polpa; handful Large of basil leaves, plus extra to serve; 350 g pasta such as fusilli, maccheroni or rigatoni; Ricotta salata or parmigiano, grated, to serve; Salt and pepper to taste

Pasta alla Norma is the world-famous Italian dish originating from Sicily. This exquisite Pasta alla Norma recipe is created by the talented food writer and cookbook author Julia Busuttil Nishimura.

Made with Polpa

Mutti Polpa keeps all the freshness of freshly picked tomatoes. This unique product combines the finely cut pulpy part of the fruit with its own juice.

40 min (COOK TIME: 40 min)

Easy

Vegetarian

Ingredients

1 eggplant (around 350 g)
60 ml extra virgin olive, plus extra for shallow frying
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
400 g tin Mutti Polpa
handful Large of basil leaves, plus extra to serve
350 g pasta such as fusilli, maccheroni or rigatoni
Ricotta salata or parmigiano, grated, to serve
Salt and pepper to taste

Did you know?
Pasta alla Norma is said to get its name from the opera Norma by Vincenzo Bellini.

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Method

Dice the eggplant into 2cm pieces. Pour enough olive oil into a small saucepan so that it’s around 1cm in depth. Shallow fry the eggplant in batches until golden on the outside and soft on the inside (around 4 minutes). Allow to drain on absorbent paper and set aside.
Meanwhile, warm the 60ml of olive oil in a large pan over a low flame and add the garlic. Allow the garlic to perfume the oil, for about 3 minutes, stirring to avoid it browning. Increase the heat to medium and add in the Mutti Polpa and 1/4 cup of water, stir and allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Stir through the fried eggplant and basil leaves and keep warm.
Cook the pasta in a large pot of generously salted boiling water and cook until just before al dente, following the directions on the packet. Drain the pasta, reserving some of the cooking liquid.
Return the pan with the sauce back onto a medium heat, tumble the pasta into the sauce, along with a ladle full of the cooking water and stir to combine. Allow the sauce and pasta to cook for a few minutes longer until the pasta is just al dente. You can continue to add in some more of the pasta water if the sauce becomes too thick.
Season to taste and serve Pasta alla Norma immediately with extra basil leaves and a generous scattering of ricotta salata.

Vegetarian, With friends, Family, Italian, Pasta, Main course

Pasta alla Norma is simple but perfect

The original Pasta alla Norma recipe contains only a handful of ingredients and it has remained as such throughout the years. The most important part of Pasta alla Norma besides the actual pasta are fried aubergines (or eggplants), ricotta cheese, first class tomatoes and fresh basil.

In this recipe Julia has used Mutti Polpa, which contains only two ingredients. In Polpa sun-ripened and finely chopped Italian tomatoes meet with a pinch of Mediterranean sea salt.

Pasta alla Norma and the Catanese opera

Pasta alla Norma has a tight connection with the opera by the same name. Norma was composed by Vincenzo Bellini from Catania and the perfection of his work was soon used to describe also the excellence of this certain pasta. There is also a legend saying that Pasta alla Norma was intentionally created to celebrate the premiere of the opera on 26th of December 1831. Be that as it may, today probably most of the restaurants in Catania serve Pasta alla Norma to their clients as it has became one of Sicily’s most iconic dishes.

Pasta alla Norma by @juliaostro

Made with Polpa

Ingredients

Share the ingredient list

Method

Pasta alla Norma is simple but perfect

Pasta alla Norma and the Catanese opera

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