Pasta alla Norma

This is one of husband’s and my favorite pasta dishes!

We both love eggplant and order this dish out at restaurants often, so it was it was only natural that we recreated it at home.

The crazy thing is that we make this so often and I can’t believe I’ve never shared it here before!

It’s such a simple dish but has the most amazing robust, savory flavor.

Tender eggplant (we used the last of last week’s farmer’s market finds today) in simple tomato sauce base, tossed with gluten-free pasta, and topped with fresh basil and ricotta salata.

All you need is 10 (mostly) pantry staple ingredients including all the seasoning…

Fresh eggplant

chopped or crushed tomatoes (we like Pomi brand)

extra virgin olive oil

fresh garlic

anchovies (don’t freak out! They are mashed up and add the best flavor!)

crushed red pepper

kosher salt

fresh basil

ricotta salata

and your favorite gluten-free pasta.
A note on eggplant…

Both my husband and I grew up with family’s that grew eggplant in the garden and we both grew up loving eggplant!

Choosing a great eggplant isn’t a guarantee, but here are some tips that help us:

• Look for eggplants with smooth, shiny skin and green stem.  A green stem often indicates that it’s fresher.
• Eggplants can vary in color (I’ve seen so many new varieties at the farmer’s market recently!) but they are generally a rich, purple color.
• You want to choose eggplant that are firm, but not rock hard.
• If possible, look for lighter (as opposed for heavier) eggplants — according to my mother in law, a heavier eggplant can indicate more seeds.
• We tend to prefer smaller eggplants as we find them sweeter, less bitter and less seedy.  If you happen to cut one open that is particularly seedy, you definitely want to let it sit with a little salt on it for 20 minutes if you can. This will not only release the water but make it less bitter.
• If you see them, Italian eggplant are smaller and have less seeds according to my mother-in-law.
• Ichiban egggplant are the long, skinny eggplant and they are often sweeter and not seedy as well.

A note on pasta…

Here with used Banza Rigatoni but I am linking to a recent blog post Our Favorite Gluten-Free Pastas so you can see what else we love.

Back to the Pasta alla Norma…

We love the flavor in this dish–

• the eggplant is tender, hearty and almost caramelized
• the crushed red pepper adds a bit of heat (you can add as much or as little as you like!)
• the anchovies and garlic season the sauce to perfection
• then topped fresh basil and salty ricotta salata, it melt in your mouth delicious!

And it is one of the easiest pasta dishes to make.

Pro tip: One key to the flavor is to cut the eggplant and let it sit in a strainer with kosher salt for about 20-30 minutes while you do other things.

The salt draws the moisture out of the eggplant so it absorbs less oil when you saute the eggplant and it helps make the eggplant extra tender and mild in flavor.

BUT... if you don’t have time and your eggplant isn’t seedy, don’t worry about skipping this step! I skipped it just the other night and it tasted great!

After this, the dish comes together really quickly!

First, you saute the eggplant until tender and browned (just about 10 minutes).

Then set it aside while you saute the anchovies, garlic and crushed red pepper, add tomatoes and let sauce thicken for about 10 minutes.

Then you add the eggplant and fresh basil to the tomato sauce while the pasta cooks.

Remember to reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water before draining the pasta to thin the sauce if needed.

Then put the cooked pasta back into the pot, add sauce mix together.

Serve into bowls. Top with fresh basil and ricotta salata and enjoy!

Hope you love it as much as we do!

Scroll down for recipe and leave a comment if you try.