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Tasting Italy: Original recipe of Pasta with Eggplants (Pasta Norma Style)

27 June 2011
Posted in FOOD AND WINE

pasta_with_eggplants_best_recipe-norma_2Wonderful dishes full of contradictions just like the island itself. Discover Sicily with typical food, vines and unique traditions. Just like a painter uses his paintbrush and colors to create a masterpiece which will be admired by all the world, the same way Sicilians use local ingredients and palette of spices to create dishes which are famed all over the world.

The Sicilian food is just like the island it comes from: colorful like Sicilian shores, contradictive like Sicilian land, hot as Etna’s flames and as air scented with orange blossom. It is strictly connected to the history of the Island, which during centuries was under domination of different  countries. Starting with Romans and Greeks, Vandals from northern borders  of Roman Empire, to the Arabs, each of this dominations left traces not only in landscape, architecture and traditions but in the cuisine as well.

pasta_with_eggplants_best_recipe-norma

The basics of Sicilian cuisine are locally grown vegetables and sea food as well as variety of homemade pastas. Eggplants are ingredient used not only to prepare side dishes such as Caponata, but first, and second curses as well.  Lentils, chick peas are important part of Sicilians diet, as well as meats. Another important side of Sicilian food are vines and drinks. The famous volcano, Mount Etna makes the land particularly good for vine planting. Sicilian red vines are well know all over the world, especially the Nero d’Avola or Cerasuolo.
No one of course can visit Sicily without tasting Sicilian sweets, which will make your mouth water. Delicious things, prepared only with local and fresh ingredients including honey, almonds of course, ricotta, candied fruits and so on. Things such as cassata, cannoli, almond paste bisquits will make easy to stay and difficult to leave. Well, who wouldn’t like to visit Sicily…
To fall in love immensely we propose you today incredibly easy receipt for a first course which will bring to your household a true taste of Sicily. Prepared with most characteristic Sicilian ingredients, such as eggplants, tomatoes and ricotta cheese, the delicious Pasta alla Norma.

You will need

600 grams of tomato sauce (pulp)
500 grams of eggplants
200 grams of salted ricotta cheese
1 onion
basil
½ cup of olive oil
frying oil
salt
black pepper

First of all you have to prepare the tomato sauce. Peel the onion and cut into very thin slices. In a pan place the oil, onion tomato sauce, salt and pepper – all cold! Put to cook over a low fire, stirring from time to time, until one third of sauce evaporate. Take off the flame and set apart.
Peel eggplants, wash and cut into slices, or if proffered in cubes. Put in colander, cover with big grain salt and leave to rest for one hour to take away the bitter water from the vegetable. One hour passed rinse thoroughly under running water and dry well using paper towels. Fry on boiling oil (it will prevent from absorbing too much of it), take away from frying pan and take away excess of oil with paper towel.
In a pan boil water, salt and cook the pasta until al dente. Take away from the water and place in a bowl. Add 100 grams of ricotta and tomato sauce, basil and stir all. Place the pasta on serving dish, covering with eggplants mixed with remaining   ricotta.
Delicious and quite easy to make will bring to every house the true taste and flavor of Sicily.

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