Pasta alla Norma
Sometimes, I just want a bowl of pasta. One pasta that I love is Pasta all Norma, with eggplant, basil, and cheese. I love this recipe from the Mark Bittman for the New York Times, but I don’t love the idea of frying the eggplant. I don’t like how much oil it absorbs, and how it stinks up the house and makes a mess. Happily, helpful folks have commented their modifications to the recipe, which I wrote down, and went ahead and used them.
Ted is low carb…he loves pasta and bread and so on, but it doesn’t play so well with him anymore, so he tries to avoid it as much as possible. Maya is vegetarian, but does love pasta. How I modify this dish to make everyone happy is that I make extra eggplant and sauce, and Maya and I have it over pasta, and Ted has it over a roasted chicken thighs. It’s a win-win, for sure.
Pasta alla Norma
Ingredients
- 2½ pounds eggplant
- Olive oil as needed
- Salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
- Red Pepper flakes
- 1 28oz can San Marzano tomatoes
- 1 or 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon good dried oregano, or 1 tablespoon fresh
- 1 pound pasta
- ½ cup chopped basil
- ½ cup grated ricotta salata (or in a pinch, pecorino Romano) (my local Italian deli no longer carries ricotta salata, so I got the pecorino Romano.)
Preparation
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cube the eggplant. Toss with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and red pepper flakes. Spread on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast in the oven for 25 minutes, until soft. Meanwhile, put a large pot of water to boil and salt it.While the eggplant roasts, heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a wide pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until the garlic colors a little bit. Add the tomatoes and oregano, along with some salt and pepper; cook until saucy but not too dry, stirring occasionally.
Cook the pasta until tender but not mushy. When the pasta is almost ready, add the eggplant to the tomato sauce. Drain the pasta and toss it with the tomato sauce and the eggplant. Taste and adjust the seasoning, then top with the basil and grated cheese and serve.
Modified from original recipe by Mark Bittman
14 Comments
Tierney
This sounds and looks so good! I am going to add this to my “To make” list. I like your modifications- it’s great to get a dish that works for everyone with pretty easy tweaks.
J
You could try it either way…the eggplant doesn’t really brown the way I do it, but it’s definitely tasty! I just hate frying things.
Elisabeth
Yum! This looks and sounds delicious – and I suspect it smells delicious, too!
And when you make a tomato-based sauce like this…no ketchup is necessary (haha)!
J
HA! It was delicious, you’re right!
Nicole MacPherson
Oooh I am here for this recipe! That looks amazing.
J
Very yummy, especially if you like eggplant. My daughter is not thrilled with eggplant, but she liked it anyway.
nance
I love eggplant, but Rick is meh about it. This is something I’d make for myself if he’s out with friends for burgers and beer. It sounds delicious. I’m a fiend for pasta anyway.
J
Nance, I think you would love it. My favorite meal if I am cooking for myself is often linguine and clams. I love it. Ted loves it but can’t eat that much pasta, and Maya hates it. So it’s good for me when I’m home alone. Yum.
San
This looks delicious. I am usually not a big fan of egg plant (the one vegetable I can’t get excited about), but I’d definitely try this dish 🙂
J
San, not sure…my daughter doesn’t love eggplant, and she thought it was just OK. If you don’t like it, fee free to skip!
Jenny
This sounds really good. Since I’m the queen of substitutions, I would use some vegan cheese, and also, has your husband every tried chickpea pasta? I really like it, although I do eat regular pasta as well. I think my husband would love this dish (with regular pasta) so maybe I’ll make it this weekend.
J
Chickpea pasta? We haven’t tried that. Does it have a low glycemic load? I am going to check it out, that might be really good for him.
Melissa
The recipe I have for Pasta alla Norma has eggplant roasted in the oven. It’s such a healthy, easy meal. Yum!
J
It’s yummy, right? I think I needed to put more basil on mine. I had it on the side for some stupid reason. And maybe I didn’t quite use enough salt. I’m always afraid to over salt things. But this is a delicious recipe.