Spaghetti alla Norma

I’m not a huge fan of aubergine, but this Sicilian dish with aubergine being the main ingredient is delicious!

I had seen Rick Stein making this recipe in one of his episodes and he raved about it and it is so simple to prepare that one day when I just so happened to have an aubergine lying around I decided to make it.

This dish is native of Sicily, in particular Catania and was named in the honour of Vincenzo Bellini the composer of the opera Norma. An Italian author, Nino Martoglio apparently exclaimed whilst eating this dish that it was a real Norma, meaning it was a masterpiece. However, the name was not given to the dish until many years after his death.

In 2018 pasta alla Norma was awarded a tourism award for the “Best Dish” by the Borsa internazionale del turismo. Not a lot of people know that.

So now you really must try this recipe out.

Serves 4:

Ingredients:

2 medium sized aubergines
3 cloves of garlic
A good handful of fresh basil , (15g)
1 teaspoon dried chili flakes
1 tablespoon baby capers
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 x 400 g tin of quality plum tomatoes, whole or chopped
320 g spaghetti
50 g pecorino cheese or Greek Feta is also good
Extra virgin olive oil

Preparation Method:

Slice the aubergines into rounds and lay flat on a baking sheet and salt both sides then place in a colander in the sink and leave for about 30 minutes or so for the salt to draw out most of the moisture.

Finely chop the garlic then pick the basil leaves off of the stalks and finely slice the stalks.

Rinse the aubergine and pat dry with kitchen paper, then dice them into 1-2 cm chunks and place into a large bowl.

Drizzle olive oil into a large frying pan and heat up over a medium heat. Once the oil is hot add the aubergines and fry until softened and golden, stirring occasionally – if you need to do this in batches that’s fine.

When soft and golden remove from the pan and place on some paper towels.

Add another splash of olive oil into pan and add the garlic and basil stalks and cook for a couple minutes, or until golden, but be careful not to burn the garlic.

Stir in the vinegar and the tomatoes, breaking them up with the back of a spoon if whole. Reduce the heat to low, and simmer gently for 15 to 20 minutes or until it thickens nicely.

Cook the spaghetti in a pan of boiling salted water for a minute under the given time or until al dente, which means that it should be soft enough to eat, but still have a bit of bite and firmness to it.

Add the cooked aubergine to the tomato sauce and stir it in until evenly mixed.

Drain the spaghetti, reserving a cupful or so of the cooking water, add a good splash of this to the aubergine sauce and stir in.

Finely grate in half the cheese and tear in most of the reserved basil leaves.

Drizzle extra virgin olive oil, then season to taste.

Add the spaghetti to the sauce and toss well, adding an extra splash of the reserved cooking water to loosen it if needed.

Serve into bowls and grate over the remaining cheese and finish with the remaining basil scattered on top.

Enjoy!