Baked Pasta alla Norma....Sausage, ricotta and penne, OH MY!

 

Day 1 of “The Box Project.” In case you missed my last post, for the next month or so I am on a mission. That is…A Box Project Mission. What’s the Box Project? Well, it’s a box of delicious treats I brought back from Italy and am always saving “for something special.” I finally decided, what am I waiting for? On top of it, I have a bad habit of food shopping too often and I hate to say it, but sometimes things unfortunately go to waste. The idea with the Box Project is to use ingredients that I already have on hand and add necessary proteins, dairy or vegetables. So…day 1.

Pasta al Forno.
 

 

Pasta al Forno is basically an Italian baked pasta dish made with a pasta, cheese and preferably meat/vegetables. Well, I had a lovely can of tomatoes that I actually got last year that the real estate agent left in our kitchen “goody bag”, (when I was in Florence, Italy, the real estate agent had a bag full of groceries, ahem, and some wine in the kitchen for our arrival). Along with the tomatoes, I also had a jar of Pesto Rosso with basil that I purchased at Conand. Conand is a supermarket chain in Italy and I swear, every time I go in there, I come out with 6 bags…and that’s on a  good day.  Also on hand was a jar of San Marzano tomato paste, penne and ricotta (yes, when I can’t make my own ricotta or get to my usual cheese guy, I have to settle for supermarket ricotta). The extras I purchased for this dish were some parmigiana, eggplant and hot sausage links. So without further adeu…

 

Baked Pasta alla Norma
 

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 pack of hot sausage links

1 large eggplant (properly prepared, see below)

2 tbsp. garlic, finely chopped

1 can of tomato paste

6 tbsp. tomato pesto

2 tbsp. fresh basil, torn (NEVER CUT BASIL!!)

1 tbsp. oregano

Pinch of salt

Pinch of pepper

1 box of penne

2 cups of ricotta

½ cup of parmigiana, grated

Set a medium size pan over medium/high heat. Add 1 tbsp. olive oil. Uncase your sausage links (I do this simply by wetting the link and cutting the case with a knife to remove it). Tear out all of the sausage into little pieces and add in the pan. Cook for 30-45 minutes (this depends on how well you like your sausage of course). Remove the sausage from the pan with a slotted spoon and place in a bowl to cool.

Prepare your eggplant. First off, clean it. Then cut it into slices and layer them in a colander, sprinkle on some salt. Let the eggplant release some liquid. Then rinse the eggplant, squeeze it with your hands and pat it dry. I know this seems like a lot of work, but trust me, it’s worth it. I picked up this technique when I was studying cooking in Italy. Not only does it make the eggplant less bitter, but by releasing the liquid, it is easier to fry. After you have rinsed and dried the eggplant, chop it coarsely. Add to the pan that you had the sausage in. I basically used the fat that the sausage released to fry the eggplant in. Not the healthiest I know, but delicious nonetheless.

 

 

Fry the eggplant until a little golden and crispy. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon. By this point, you should have water boiling. Add your garlic to the pan and let it fry until golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and remove all of the excess oil and fat from the pan. Put the pan back over medium heat.  Add the tomato paste and let it “toast” slightly. Add 6 tbsp. of red pesto (basically, tomato pesto), a splash of pasta water, the basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Once the water is boiling, add the pasta and cook it very briefly. Six minutes top. Strain the pasta and add it to the tomato sauce, along with the sausage and eggplant. Let it cook over low heat while the tomato sauce reduces slightly. In the meantime prepare your ricotta.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium size bowl, whip 2 cups of ricotta with the parmigiana. Add the fried garlic. You will want to get out a casserole dish to prepare the pasta in. Add one layer of the pasta and then add dollops of the ricotta mix. Continue doing so until filled. Put the pasta in the oven and bake for 30 minutes to one hour. Remove, let it cool and then DIG IN!!!

Bella Roma: Part Due; Shopping and Pasta all Norma

Ciao a tutti! Every time we travel, we make a point of leaving a few days to just wander so we don’t get too overwhelmed, I think this is usually a pretty smart choice, at least for us. So, today we decided to walk and browse in and out of some shops. My mother always told me about a department store that she went to on her first trip to Italy with her best friend when they were younger. The store is called Upim. It is basically the Italian equivalent or a Target or JCPenney. My mother and I found it on my first trip in the summer of 2011 and I was very eager to get back. This Store is so much fun!! They have clothing, makeup, accessories, home décor, jewelry…pretty much anything that women love!

I love shopping in Italy and getting brands and designers that are not available in this country, I know that may seem silly, but I get a kick out of it. I especially love buying Italian makeup and shoes! Unfortunately at Upim, you're not allowed to take pictures, so I have none to share with you. Now, enough about the shopping, let’s get to the reason why I’m here: FOOD!! 

After all that shopping, we worked up a good appetite. On our last trip, we were lucky enough to find a little outdoor café just a couple of blocks from Upim, so we decided to have lunch there again, we even had the exact same meal.

Fried Zucchini Flowers, my weakness

Pasta all Norma and a few Fried Zucchini Flowers. You just can’t go wrong. Pasta alla Norma is a favorite of mine. I love eggplant, so the chance to pair it with pasta and  ricotta salata…..mmmmmm. And it doesn’t hurt that it is also named after Vincenzo Bellini’s opera, “Norma.” The story goes that in the 19^th century, Nino Martoglio, a Sicilian writer, poet and theatre director, was so impressed when he first tasted the dish that he compared it to “Norma,” Bellini’s masterpiece. It is a classic Sicilian dish from Catania, a city on the east coast of Sicily.

If you haven’t tried Pasta all Norma, I highly recommend it. What can I say? It’s just a wonderful dish. I hope you enjoy my version, please let me know what you think!

Pasta alla Norma

Pasta alla Norma. Doesn't it look yummy?!?

2 medium eggplants- cut into little cubes (you pick exactly how little)

7 tbsp. olive oil

Salt & Pepper (quanto basta!)

Onion- minced

1 tbsp. red pepper

4 cloves of garlic-minced

1 large can of tomatoes (I always use San Marzano tomatoes, in my opinion, they’re just the best!)

Handful of fresh basil

1 pound of rigatoni

1 cup of ricotta salata

Preheat your over to 400 degrees. Put the eggplant in a bowl and drizzle with 4 tbsp. olive oil. Add salt and pepper and toss. Put the eggplant on a baking sheet and roast for around 20 minutes or until lightly caramelized, but not burnt!!

Heat the remaining oil in a pot over medium heat. Add onions and cook until soft, around 10 minutes. Add red pepper and garlic; continue cooking until the garlic softens. Add tomatoes, some of the basil, salt and cook for around 6-7 minutes.

Boil some water for the pasta. Once it is boiling, add the pasta and cook until al dente, around 9 minutes. Drain pasta and add to the tomato mix. Stir in the eggplant and toss, add the remaining basil and a little salt. Garnish with ricotta salata. As always, I LOVE to hear what you have to say! Boun Appetito!!