A looong time ago I promised a recipe or two, but then ran aground...

So, here's PASTA ALLA NORMA

Legend has it, this recipe was invented to celebrate composer Vincenzo Bellini's latest opera, "La Norma"



The fundamental ingredients are eggplant (aubergines), sliced tomato sauce and ricotta salata, a thick, compact cheese which started out as something similar to cottage cheese, but was salted and seasoned until hard.
If you can't find ricotta, try pecorino romano or grana or parmigiano.

For 4 servings, your ingredients will be:
- 2 cloves garlic
- 12 leaves of basil
- 2 average sized aubergines (what's average ?   2 softball-sized aubergines   )
- extra-virgin olive oil (or at least olive oil from Chile or Spain, NOT peanut oil or palm oil !   )
- black pepper
- 16-20 oz can of sliced tomatoes for the sauce
- 8 oz. ricotta
- salt
- 16 oz. spaghetti or other pasta by Barilla, Buitoni or another REAL Italian brand (please avoid "MammaMia, Giuseppe's or any wannabe Italian) consider 4oz. per person.

INSTRUCTIONS



1. Wash and nip the aubergines (never mind they look like squash, there's long and there's ball aubergines...)

2. Slice your aubergines lengthwise, slices about 1/8th in. thick

3. Place the sliced aubergines in a colander or strained and salt generously, then cover with a dish and place a weight on top; this will draw out the excess bitter juices (1 hour or more)



4. In the meantime, prepare the tomato sauce: pour oil in the pan and brown the garlic (I leave it in, others may want to pluck it out) Do NOT fry it until brown/black!

5. Pour the sloced tomatoes and allow to simmer

6. Simmer the tomatoes over a low flame


7. Allow the tomatoes to cook (they should "blip and burp", not fry) until the become very soft

8. If you have a strainer, strain the tomatoes; if not, simply stir gently with a wooden spoon until they become creamy

9. Once creamy or strained, return the tomato sauce to the pan on the stove and allow to settle and condense (evaporate excess moisture) When the sauce is reasonably firm, turn off the fire and sprinkle about half the basil



10. Remember the aubergines ? Oh, yeah, them !  

11. Rinse the sliced aubergines under gentle cold water, dry with a cloth

12. Fry the aubergines in oilive oil until golden (not brown overdone, just blonde  )



13. Place the fried aubergines on paper towels to catch the oil as it drips away

14. Boil the pasta of your choice in 1 gal. salty water (hint: bring to a boil, then salt, 3 teaspoons/gal.) boil 1 minute lESS than it says on the label, set alarm

15. Grate the salted ricotta (if you couldn't find salted ricotta, try pecorino romano or just plain grana or parmigiano)



16. As you wait for the pasta to boil, slice the fried aubergines in strips (or just dice them in 4ths)

17. Pour the sliced aubergines in the pan with the tomato sauce and bring to a very gentle simmer

18. When the alarm rings, check the pasta, it should be firm enough to bite into  , not mushy like a boiled marshmallow  
Strain the Pasta and pour into the pan with the sauce; stir gwently until it's all amalgamated

Serving suggestion: do NOT ladle out servings in the kitchen; rather, take the whole pan to the dinner table and dish out helpings there.
MOUTH WATERING as you wait !

Sprinkle whatever cheese of your choice, a dash of black pepper and enjoy !

VARIANT

If Ricotta, pecorino and even grana/parmigiano are too strong flavored for your palate, you can try finely diced mozzarella.
In this case, make sure you use the round, marble or tennis ball sized mozzarella which is sold in its own milky liquid, not the vacuum-packed brick-like stuff made from recycled longlife milk  

Just cut the mozzarella into small, raisin-size bits and sprinkle generously.

Similarly, you can use zucchini instead of aubergines (in this case, you can avoid steps 3 and 11 (they're sweet, not bitter)

It's a great way to get kids to eat veggies without telling them at all.  

WINE : If a Man's Home is his Castle, what's a castle without a Dungeon (i.e., a Wine Cellar) ?
If you're a no-alcohol family, ok, just avoid milk or fruit juice as it will not go well with the tomato sauce.
Vintage water from Granpa's well or a bottle of fizzy water is great.

But if you DO drink wine, a bottle of chilled dry white will be the perfect companion.  



(...even though the Wine Companion insists on a full red like a Chianti or a Burgundy... I find them much too strong for this dish)

Sounds like a fine meal,

A true poet  

To go with the spaghetti sauce I usually make a tomato salad the day before.
You need: 5 vine ripened tomatoes cut into aprox. one inch pieces.
               2 or 3 small zucchini cut into 1" pieces.
               1/2 large red onion, or more if you like onion, cut into     large pieces.
The dressing:
1/2 cup balsamic vinigar.
1/2 cup good quality olive oil.
1/2 cup water.
1 tablespoon prepared mustard.
1 teaspoon oregano.
1 teaspoon basil.
1 clove garlic finely chopped.
Stir it up and pour over the tomatoes and stuff. Refrigerate for a day before serving. I put it in a freezer bag so the solid ingredients are covered by the dressing. Pull it out of the fridge and heat it up just till the olive oil melts.
Delicious!

I just drooled on my keyboard!!!


cheese is going to be hardest part of this...

arteacher wrote on 06/26/12 at 21:17:59:


And that's when they start gossiping on the men and you hear them giggling and you KNOW they're on to something...

Fine meal. I've always said "food is a form of art, a means to express your culture".

An 8 hour meal does not mean you start munchin away at noon and finish 8 hours later with the checquered flag, it isn't an "all you can eat" contest, it's a family gathering.

Why men at one table and women at another table ? It isn't to relegate the women to a lesser environment, quite the opposite.

Women have important things to discuss: the teenage daughter to set up with a nice boy; the new house and can we afford another mortgage? Why can't Rita have any babies, and why can't Susan stop having even too many?
AND
Often, there's just no way you can physically sit 30+ people at one table, so you need two tables.

So the men have the responsibility over wine and meats and the knives, women have the responsibility to whatever's cooking (except for the roasts/BBQ) the bread and the children.

So everybody can discuss "important matters", such as "which girl do you like, son? You can tell me now, you're a grown up"
but also "which boy do you like, my dear? You can tell me now, we're among women"  

Nice, simple recipe, catchy name,

I'll place it as "Dish of the Week"
at my restaurant, serious, thanks.

Pictures soon.