November 8th, 2024
Recipes
Pasta with Fried Eggplants (Pasta alla Norma)
Valentina P
- Difficulty
•
- Time 35"
Twirly spaghetti tossed in a simple homemade tomato-basil sauce and topped with freshly fried eggplants. Most renditions of this recipe will dice up the eggplant; not so here. My grandmother always sliced the eggplant, my mother always sliced it, and I will always slice it. Part of the pleasure of this dish is topping it off with eggplant and cutting it into bite-sized pieces in the bowl as you eat it. We always serve it with extra eggplant plated on the side. And of course, don't forget the very generous topping of parmesan cheese.
How To MakeDiet Type: Classic
Shopping List
-
Pasta
- 1/2 (1 pound) box spaghetti
- 1 large eggplant
- parmigiano reggiano, for topping (or vegan parmesan)
- cooking oil, for frying Tomato Sauce
- 700 grams cherry tomatoes, quartered
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves (whole leaves)
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons salt
- red pepper flakes, to taste
Instructions
- Step 1: To make the sauce, heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the tomatoes and cook until softened, stirring frequently and squishing the tomatoes down with a fork. This should take about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Step 2: Once soft and sauce-like, turn off the heat. Add the olive oil, pepper flakes, salt, and fresh basil leaves. The heat of the sauce will naturally wilt the leaves. Set aside.
- Step 3: Roughly peel the eggplant and chop off the top stem. Slice the eggplant into quarters and then cut each quarter into thin slices, about 1/2" inch thick. At this stage, you could salt the eggplant for 30 minutes, but it's not mandatory.
- Step 4: Fry the eggplant slices over medium-high heat in a large frying pan filled with about 1/4" inch of cooking oil. The eggplant should sizzle on contact with the oil. If the oil is spattering and burning the eggplants, turn down the heat a bit. The eggplant slices should be in a single layer in the pan - so you'll need to do this in batches, since there will be many slices. Once the eggplant is golden brown on the underside, flip it over and fry on the other side. This process should take about 2 to 3 minutes per side. Remove the cooked eggplant with a slotted spoon or fork and place on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb the excess oil. Continue this process with all remaining slices, adding more oil as needed to fry.
- Step 5: Meanwhile, heat a large pot of salted water over medium-high heat. Once boiling, add the spaghetti and cook until al-dente. Stir regularly to prevent sticking.
- Step 6: Once the pasta has cooked, drain the pasta and add it back to the pot. Stir in half of the tomato sauce and some of the cooked eggplant slices to the pasta. Adjust sauce quantity to your preference. Any leftover tomato sauce can be used in other dishes throughout the week.
- Serve: Divide the pasta onto plates and top each one with more eggplant slices and a generous amount of parmesan cheese. Add a drizzle of olive oil if desired. Enjoy.
Recipe Notes
Note 1: To make this dish grain-free or a bit lighter, you could substitute some or all of the spaghetti with zucchini noodles (about 5 zucchini to substitute all of the pasta). Use a vegetable peeler to make the zucchini noodles. Cut off the stems and peel the zucchini lengthwise. Peel in one long motion, making a thin fettuccine-style noodle. Continue peeling the zucchini, rotating it to different sides as you do so. Once you reach the center, it will be too wet to peel. Chop these inner core pieces and cook them alongside the zucchini noodles. Then, heat a wide frying pan over medium-high heat. Oil it lightly and then add the big pile of zucchini ribbons to the pan. Sauté the zucchini for 2 to 3 minutes, or until it loses volume and just becomes soft. Don't overcook, it shouldn't be mushy. Add some sauce and eggplant and enjoy.
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Pasta with Fried Eggplants (Pasta alla Norma)
PT35M 1/2 (1 pound) box spaghetti 1 large eggplant parmigiano reggiano, for topping (or vegan parmesan) cooking oil, for frying 700 grams cherry tomatoes, quartered 1 cup fresh basil leaves (whole leaves) 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 2 teaspoons salt red pepper flakes, to taste Gluten Free Paleo Vegan Low-Carb 4 Servings
Ingredients:
