Mandy Sue, Mother of Two

My family has just arrived home from our summer travels.  Honestly, I didn’t do much cooking while we were abroad.  But, I did make a few meals.  And my secret to making a meal while on vacation, is to keep the ingredient list as simple as possible.  

The meal that I made while in Taormina is a Sicilian dish that I first learned to cook in my Foods of Italy cooking class that I took while studying in Florence in 2007.  Below is a photo of myself cooking in my apartment in Florence and is my textbook, well what’s left of it anyhow. I would practice the dishes each week by cooking for my friends.

Pasta alla Norma was one of the first dishes we learned, possibly because of the simplicity of the dish, but also because we started learning southern Italian dishes first and moved our way north as the semester rolled on.  I loved the dish from the first time I tried it; the rich eggplant, slightly spicy tomato sauce, saltiness of the cheese.  It is truly comfort food.

This is the kitchen at the rental house we stayed at in Taormina. I just love these cute Italian kitchens.

You don’t need a ton of ingredients for this dish and that’s why it’s perfect to make when you’re not home.  You can use either fresh or canned tomato.  Ricotta Salata is not that common in the US. It is kind of like the Mexican cotija cheese, it’s salty and kind of crumbly. If you can’t find Ricotta Salata, regular ricotta will do the job.  Don’t skip the eggplant though, it is truly what makes the dish.

Ingredients

5 cups of fresh or canned tomatoes

1 pound of pasta, preferably rigatoni

4 garlic cloves, slightly crushed

3 small eggplants or one large eggplant

1 cup grated ricotta salata

10 basil leaves

dried peppers (whole or flakes)

Step 1

Prepare the eggplant for frying.  Peel, cut into 3/4 inch cubes and place into a colander and sprinkle generously with salt.  While the moisture is drawn out of the eggplant, start to prepare the tomato sauce.

Step 2

Put three tablespoons olive oil into a large skillet over medium heat. Brown the whole garlic gloves and remove from the pan before they burn.  Carefully add the tomatoes to the pan.  Season generously with salt and allow to simmer on low while you prepare the rest of the dish.  Optional: add dried peppers to the tomato sauce to your preference of spice level.

Step 3

Quickly rinse the eggplant of the salt and set to dry on paper towels, pat the eggplant dry as best that you can.  Prepare a medium sized pot to deep fry the eggplant.  The best results come from 2-3 inches deep of oil, this way the oil doesn’t drop in temperature too much when the eggplant is added.  The oil can be repurposed and fried with at least one more time. [I find that the eggplant can easily absorb too much oil, so be sure to get the oil hot enough before frying, and test with one piece of eggplant before committing to a whole batch.]

Step 4

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

Step 5 & 6

Start frying the dry eggplant in 2-3 batches [excess water will create dangerous bubbling in your oil].  Remove the eggplant once it becomes golden brown (7-10 minutes), drain the oil off and place onto paper towels. Get the following batches into the oil quickly as to not let the oil get too hot.

Once your first batch of eggplant is in the oil, it is time to put the pasta into the boiling water. Follow the instructions on the package of pasta to ensure proper cooking time.

Step 7

Once the eggplant and pasta are cooked, it is time to put all the ingredients together.  Test the salt and spice level of the tomato sauce and add salt and chili peppers as desired.  Then put the drained pasta and the fried eggplant into the tomato sauce and toss to coat.  Transfer to a large pasta bowl.  Grate the ricotta salata over the top.  Tear basil leaves over the top as well.  Add a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt and serve!

Don’t toss that used olive oil. You can keep the left over oil in a glass jar in your pantry and use it again for similar purposes.