Pasta is my comfort food. Which is a bit odd considering I am not Italian {although I sometimes pretend to be}. If I am ever feeling under the weather, or in the throes of a major hangover, nothing is more comforting to me than an abnormally large bowl of pasta {even with just a simple butter and parmesan sauce}. I freak even myself out with my ability to literally inhale an entire bowl of pasta faster than a growing teenage boy.
I first tried making a pasta alla norma, a delicious pasta that originated in Sicily, after seeing a recipe for it in Jamie’s Italy. However, I didn’t love frying the eggplant separately as his recipe called for – eggplant tends to absorb anything and everything you throw at it, and I felt that the amount of oil soaked up by these greedy little sponges was a bit excessive {even for me}. I love that this recipe from Saveur instead called for roasting eggplant {I have never met a roasted vegetable I didn’t like – see here}, which I found required less oil, resulted in a more flavorful pasta, and made my life easier – it allowed me to throw the julienned eggplant in the oven while I got cracking on the sauce. All in, this recipe came together in about 40 minutes, and was absolutely delicious.
Recipe continued after the jump…
Recipe
From Saveur
- 2 medium eggplants, cut into 3/4″ cubes {I cut them into a large julienne}
- 7 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- Dried oregano {if desired}
- 1 small yellow onion, minced
- 1 tsp. crushed red chile flakes
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 28-oz. can whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes, undrained and crushed by hand
- 16 fresh basil leaves, torn by hand {or chiffonade}
- 1 lb. bucatini or spaghetti
- 4 oz. ricotta salata, grated {if you can’t find ricotta salata, regular ricotta, crumbled up is lovely too}
Heat oven to 500º. Put eggplant into a bowl and drizzle with 4 tbsp. oil. Toss to combine and season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with dried oregano if desired. Transfer eggplant to 2 baking sheets and bake, turning occasionally, until soft and caramelized, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack; set aside.
Heat remaining oil in a 5-qt. pot over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring, until soft, about 10 minutes. Add chile flakes and garlic and cook, stirring, until garlic softens, about 3 minutes. Add tomatoes and half the basil, season with salt, and cook until heated through, about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, until just al dente, about 9 minutes. Drain pasta and transfer to tomato sauce. Stir in reserved eggplant and toss to combine. Stir in remaining basil and season with salt. To serve, transfer pasta to a platter and garnish with ricotta salata.
We grow eggplant now and am looking for different ways to prepare it. This would work nicely.
Thank you! I love eggplant as well – it is incredibly versatile!
This is such a beautiful plate of pasta! I can see why it’s comforting. Love the photos –makes me hungry! 😀
Thanks Anne! I am cooking up another huge bowl of pasta as we speak! Perfect for a Sunday night…
Oooooh, I look forward to the post! 😉
Your ingredient list looks amazingly wonderful and I would love to see you woof down a plate of pasta faster than my teenage boys. I am sure anything is possible…but you must be faster than fast.
Haha thanks BAM! Perhaps I should have an eat-off with them at some point – I have been known to challenge men twice my size to eating competitions! 🙂
I’m like you and think that I’m Italian although it’s obvious I’m not 🙂 Love how you incorporated egg plant and used the thicker bucatini in this pasta dish — beautiful and it gives it so much more texture and bite. Have a great New Year!
Hi Danny – thank you for stopping by! Love your new website! 🙂 Bucatini is one of my favorite pasta shapes also – I always buy boxes of it whenever I find it at a grocery store because it isn’t the easiest shape to find, but feels so much different to me than spaghetti. Love that you pretend to be Italian also! 🙂
Thanks for visiting as well — glad you like the “evolution” of things 🙂 Great idea that you stock up on it — nice tip! Good catching up with a “fellow Italian” LOL.
This sounds like a simple but delicious dish.
Thanks Karen! It is also surprisingly filling – I usually like some type of meat (even a little bit) in my pasta, but the eggplant is a great stand-in.
Fantastic shots!
Thank you!
Looks fantastic, makes my mouth water 🙂
Thank you Candy! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
I really love your photography!! What camera and lens do you use?
Thank you! I use a Canon EOS Rebel T2i with a Canon 50 mm lens. Hope that helps!
Same as me, except it’s a T3i. I love that 50mm lens. It seems it cannot take any bad pictures:) I especially love it for portraits in the evening at dinner parties etc…
Ooh – I haven’t really ever brought the camera out during dinner parties for portraits, but I love that idea! Will give it a try – thanks for the tip!