webcowgirl

Rigatoni alla Norma

Alla Norma is tomatoes and aubergine/eggplant and cheese. The recommended cheese is ricotta, but it's a crumbly ricotta ("ricotta salata," salted ricotta) and one of the places I went to had a smoked cheese on top, so I did that for this version but also put wet ricotta on the bottom, underneath the tomato/garlic/onion/basil mixture. (After eating this three times in a week, I was really impressed by what a wide variety of recipes went by the same name.) The kicker seems to be soaking the sliced eggplant in salted water - I couldn't believe the way this changed the flavor! I also "dressed" the cooked tomato mixture with some really nice olive oil as recommended by my cookbook. So even though I'd never made this before and don't even like eggplant (normally), this dish was very tasty and a huge success. Not bad for a lazy night at home!