TABELIA

AUTHENTIC RECIPE

Pasta alla Norma

Pasta alla Norma
Difficulty★★☆☆☆ Prep2 min Cook30 min servings4

A signature Sicilian pasta with aubergine and ricotta salata, salted ricotta. It is said to have been named after Bellini’s operatic masterpiece Norma.

Recipe developed and reviewed by the Tabelia Editorial TeamUpdated
100/ 100

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Ingredients (4 servings)

  • Rigatoni320 g
  • AuberginesCut into 2cm cubes, salt and leave for 30 minutes.2 pieces
  • Canned whole peeled tomatoes400 g
  • GarlicThinly sliced.2 cloves
  • Extra virgin olive oil80 ml
  • Ricotta salata (salted ricotta)Grate over the finished dish.80 g
  • Fresh basil10 leaves

Method

130 min

Draw moisture from the aubergines

  • 1 Cut the aubergines into 2cm cubes, sprinkle with salt and leave for 30 minutes.
  • 2 Once excess moisture has emerged, blot dry with paper towels.
210 min

Shallow-fry the aubergines

  • 1 Heat 60ml olive oil in a frying pan and shallow-fry the aubergines over medium heat.
  • 2 Remove when golden brown on all sides, about 10 minutes.
317 min

Reduce the tomato sauce

  • 1 Thinly slice the garlic.
  • 2 Add 20ml olive oil to the same pan and gently sauté the sliced garlic over low heat.
  • 3 When lightly coloured, crush and add 400g whole peeled tomatoes and simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes.

Ready when

Proceed when the sauce has thickened.

43 min

Combine the pasta and sauce

  • 1 Meanwhile(While the sauce reduces) bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta for 1 minute less than the package instructions.
  • 2 Reserve 50ml pasta cooking water.
  • 3 Mix the pasta with the sauce, add the aubergines and cook together for 1 minute.
52 min

Garnish with ricotta and basil

  • 1 Plate, grate plenty of ricotta salata over the top and garnish with hand-torn basil.
A view of Catania
CataniaItaly Photo: jim · CC BY-SA 2.0 (resized; display cropped)

About this dish

Catania, in eastern Sicily, lies at the foot of Mount Etna and is the birthplace of the 19th-century opera composer Vincenzo Bellini. This pasta was named after his famous Norma, carrying the sense of a “masterpiece”.

Fried aubergines, tomato sauce, basil and ricotta salata—salted, aged ricotta—symbolize Sicily’s agricultural abundance. Aubergines arrived during Arab rule, tomatoes came from South America, and ricotta belongs to Mediterranean dairy culture. The island’s history of mingling food cultures is reflected in this one dish.

Ricotta salata is fresh ricotta that has been salted and aged, giving it saltiness and a distinctive flavour. Grating it over the pasta with fresh basil is the Catanian finish.

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