Lazy Pasta alla Norma
A couple of months ago, I tried to make Pasta alla Norma from scratch, using a New York Times Recipe as a guide. It was not amazing...it was dry, I didn’t have any extra tomatoes to add, but I became addicted to the idea of soft eggplant and salty Ricotta Salata, and thus, began making a Lazy Pasta alla Norma.
This recipe uses your favorite jarred sauce, and comes together in less than 30 min. Plus, it’s an excuse to keep my top 2 cheeses in the fridge, Pecorino Romano and Ricotta Salata.
Ingredients:
½ Large Eggplant (approx 1 ½ cups, peeled and chopped in ⅛-¼ thick quartered wedges)
½ box thin whole wheat spaghetti (approx 8 oz)
Red sauce of choice (approx 1 cup)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt & pepper
1 tbsp italian seasoning
1 tsp red pepper flakes
¼ cup Pecorino Romano
Ricotta Salata
Instructions:
In a large skillet, head 1-2tbsp of EVOO. Add your eggplant and saute. The eggplant will quickly soak up all of the oil, but will start to release it as it cooks. The smaller your eggplant is cut, the quicker it’ll cook! Add the italian season, red pepper flakes, salt & pepper and stir well. Continue to saute your eggplant, adding a little extra oil as needed, until the eggplant is soft and almost mushy.
While sauteing the eggplant, boil salted water in a medium-large pot and add your thin spaghetti. Remove and drain 1-2 min early (dependent on the cook time on your package), reserving ½ cup pasta water.
Add approx. 1 cup of sauce (I use Rao’s) and half the pasta water to the eggplant and stir before adding the pasta. Add ¼ cup Pecorino Romano, mix well, and simmer approx. 2-3 min.
Serve in bowls and grate as much Ricotta Salata as your heart desires on top before eating. Basil makes a great garnish on this dish!
Notes:
This is a lazy recipe which means time is of the essence. Cut your eggplant small so that it cooks quickly!
Ricotta Salata and fresh Ricotta are not the same, so be sure to look for the hard cheese when at the grocery store.
Your eggplant should look much mushier than these photos. These photos are from an earlier time experimenting before I started peeling my eggplant :)
Try it out and let me know what you think! I’d love to see your creations on IG, tag me @milanocooky!
xoxo,
Haley
