Pasta Alla Norma....Pasta Tossed With Fresh Tomato Sauce, Flavor
photo by Peter Steriti
- Ready In:
- 2hrs 45mins
- Ingredients:
- 10
- Serves:
-
6
ingredients
- 3⁄4 cup olive oil
- 5 garlic cloves, with skins
- 1 teaspoon tuscany seasoning
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes
- 1⁄2 medium onion, sliced
- 1 (28 ounce) can good quality italian imported crushed tomatoes
- 3 inches sprig fresh basil
- 1 large eggplant
- 1 lb rigatoni pasta or 1 lb your favorite pasta
- 1⁄2 cup grated ricotta salata or 1/2 cup pecorino romano cheese
directions
- Pete's Garlic Oil, place olive oil in a butter melting pot. Remove the rough tips of garlic and cut cloves in half lengthwise. Add to pot along with Tuscany seasoning and red pepper flakes. Turn heat to medium. When the oil just begins to simmer lower heat enough to maintain.
- Remove garlic skins when released. Continue simmering until cloves tan and soften; monitor their progress. Heat can be increased slightly to hasten the process being careful not to burn garlic.
- Sauté onion in ¼ cup of oil from Peter’s Garlic Oil in a pot. When translucent, remove onion. Simmer tomatoes and the sprig of basil in the same pot for about 45 minutes, adding water, salt and pepper as needed.
- Peel and slice eggplant lengthwise about ¼ inch thick. Lightly salt the eggplant on both sides and place in a pasta colander over the sink or a pot. After a half hour or so the eggplant will "sweat" its dark, bitter liquid. Wipe the salt off, rinse and dry on paper towels.
- When mostly dry, brush both sides with the oil from Peter’s Garlic Oil. Grill on medium heat until lightly browned on both sides. Brush with additional oil and finish cooking by placing slices on a sheet of aluminum foil on grill over low heat or in a cookie tray in the oven. When cooked through, cut eggplant into 1 inch squares. You can also use one of the other methods, sautéing or oven cooked, both discussed above.
- To assemble, cook pasta al dente and strain. Place pasta in a bowl. Remove sprig of basil from the tomato sauce. Mix pasta with desired amount of sauce. Add and mix eggplant into the pasta with tomato sauce reserving enough to place some on top as a garnish. Grate Ricotta Salata or Pecorino Romano over each plate to taste (not shown so you can see texture) and serve.
- Option, add a second can of tomatoes when cooking the sauce. Use as additional sauce over the pasta if you prefer a slightly wetter sauce. If not, simply reserve the excess. This delicious sauce will never be wasted!
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Peter Steriti
Lady Lake, Florida
Publisher of www.LuciaTramonte.com a cooking and blogging website named after my Mom and growing up in Boston's Italian North End. Lucia Tramonte was her maiden name.