Pasta alla Norma.
This is possibly the most famous and beloved of all Sicilian pasta dishes.
Pasta alla Norma.
Made with fried aubergines, a sweet sauce of tomatoes and basil that coat a tubular pasta corta, and further topped with salted ricotta, it is a recipe that few can fault.
Originating from Catania, the primo piatto is an homage to the revered composer Bellini – another Catania native - and his operatic masterpiece of the same name. Legend has it that the pasta was deemed to be so glorious it was immediately pronounced to be a “vera – or true – Norma”, at once and forever sealing together the fates of these two Catanese creations as the city’s most pleasurable exports.
There are a few elements that define the pasta alla Norma: the aubergines have to be fried, the tomato sauce flavoured with basil, and the final pasta topped with ricotta salata, a type of ricotta cheese local to Catania. The pasta used is a short tubular one, most typically rigatoni, which nicely balance the aubergine chunks and allow the sauce to gently slip inside.
The elements that are left to individual discretion are the making of the tomato sauce, which can be made either from fresh tomatoes or passata, although nothing beats a salsa made with juicy, over-ripe, height-of-summer tomatoes. The oil for frying can be either peanut oil or olive oil, and while the two camps each stick to their guns, both yield delicious results (the peanut oil makes them crispier in texture and the olive oil softer in flavour). As for the cheese, some regions of Sicily will use a ricotta al forno, and some people even substitute entirely for Parmiggiano Reggiano – bewilderingly this seems to be fully sanctioned - but nothing quite rivals the creaminess and piquancy of the original ricotta salata.
A relatively quick and simple dish, its success unsurprisingly rests on the ingredients’ quality, as well as their proportions and timings. The tomatoes should not over-power the aubergines, which should be added at the very end, in order to maintain some of their crispiness. And the basil should be plentiful, the dish’s key aroma that beautifully unites together all those flavours that command those long, Mediterranean summers.
This is a relatively straightforward dish that can be routinely relied upon as a sure crowd-pleaser. Its Sicilian origins give it a touch of welcome exoticism, and its operatic name lends it an elegance suitable for even some special occasions.
Of course, “La Norma” in Italian also means “the norm”. And in fact, in Sicily, this is a very basic dish, made with ingredients that are in overflowing abundance in the summer months. I know of a well-known Sicilian wine-maker, who excused himself in front of another, offering him to stay for lunch but blushing that he had nothing better to offer than La Norma. As ubiquitous, comforting and easy as a sandwich, and as most good things in life.
RECIPE.
Ingredients:
Serves 4
Rigatoni, 320g
Aubergines, 2
Vine tomatoes, 8-10, or a bottle of passata
Garlic, 2 cloves
Basil, a bunch
Ricotta salata, 60g
Salt, a pinch,
Olive oil or Peanut oil, for frying
Parmesan, 2 heaped table spoonfulls (20-30g)
1. Cut the aubergines into thick rounds, about 1cm thick, put in a colander in a sink in layers and sprinkle each layer with coarse salt. Leave to drain for 30 minutes
2. In the meantime, if using fresh tomatoes, make a small incision in each in the shape of a cross with a sharp knife and blanch them in boiling water for 1-2minutes, until you start to see the skin peeling off.
3. Take out of the pan and leave to cool, then peel with your hands, take the seeds out and break up into small pieces, again still with your hands.
4. Add the tomato pulp to a pan, cover with a generous drizzle of olive oil and add a peeled garlic clove and a couple of basil stalks. Cover and cook on a low heat for 25 minutes. If using passata, proceed the same way, substituting the tomato pulp for passata. Season to taste at the end, adding salt, pepper and a small pinch of sugar if needed and discard the basil stalks and garlic.
5. Wash the aubergines with water and pat dry. Then cut into cubes.
6. Heat a frying pan on medium heat, with about 2cm of oil. As soon as it starts to bubble (test the temperature of oil with one cube of aubergine) add the aubergines and fry vigorously until browned. This will take 12-15 minutes. The aubergines are done when they have taken a lot of colour, having slightly blackened at the edges on all sides.
7. Cook the pasta in salted water, draining 2 minutes before the prescribed cooking time and reserving a generous amount of cooking water.
8. Add the pasta to the tomato sauce, and mix thoroughly over heat, adding also the grated parmesan and a couple of spoons of cooking water, mixing it all together for one minute: the “mantecatura”. Add more cooking water as needed, to create a sufficiently enveloping sauce.
9. Take off the heat and mix in some extra fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces with your hands, and finally, the aubergines. Lightly mix, and complete with a last drizzle of some spicy, raw olive oil
10. Plate and top with some freshly grated ricotta salata.
