The classic Sicilian dish named for an opera: Pasta alla Norma

Pasta alla Norma, a beloved traditional dish, gets its name from a Bellini opera—and an update with Japanese eggplant. Recipe below.

[su_dropcap style=”flat”]W[/su_dropcap]e’ve been doing a lot of harvesting and prepping of crops from our modest city yard. Last weekend, Terry brought in all the remaining basil and put up a bunch of pesto. I froze a flock of shishito peppers. We are drying herbs, and I am pondering whether to dry some tomatoes or just continue my usual policy of eating and eating and eating them out of hand while standing next to the tomato plants.

So the other day I was outside, looking at a couple of monarchs and a lot of bees while trying to figure out what to do next with all this eggplant, and I thought: what about Pasta alla Norma? Which is when it occurred to me—and I can hardly believe it—that we’ve never made Pasta alla Norma for the blog.

This classic Sicilian dish, named for the heroine of the Bellini opera Norma, is a traditional vegetarian recipe of great purity and simplicity; it is perfect for this time of year when the eggplants are so sweet and fresh. And while eggplant is the centerpiece, it doesn’t dominate the dish. There are hundreds of variations on this recipe. In our take, we used Japanese eggplant, because that is what we grow.

Of course as we thought about making this opera-inspired dish, we had to listen to a bit of the music. Here’s a little taste for you.

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Pasta alla Norma

Course Main Course, Pasta

Cuisine Italian

Servings 3 or 4

Ingredients

• 1 pound Japanese eggplant, peeled, sliced into coins (see Kitchen Notes)
• olive oil
• 1 28- ounce can Italian tomatoes, quickly chopped (see Kitchen Notes)
• 3 or 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes, optional
• 2 teaspoons fresh, minced oregano (or 1 teaspoon dried)
• 1 teaspoon herbes de Provence or dried basil (or 1 tablespoon fresh basil, coarsely chopped)
• 3 or 4 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
• salt
• 12 ounces dried pasta—we used linguine
• Parmesan or Romano cheese for grating

Instructions

• First, heat 2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a big heavy nonstick skillet over medium flame. At the same time, start a pot of water to cook the pasta.
• Work in two or three batches, drizzling in more oil as needed. Sauté the eggplant until it is golden on both flat sides. When it’s all sautéed, add it all back into the pan.
• Pour in the tomatoes, add the garlic, red pepper, herbs and vinegar and sprinkle with a little salt. Stir together, then simmer for about 15 minutes or so, stirring now and then.
• Meanwhile, cook the pasta until it is al dente. Drain it, reserving some of the cooking water.
• When the sauce is nicely cooked together, add the drained pasta and stir and toss everything together. The idea is to evenly distribute the sauce. You don’t want pasta swimming in sauce—the sauce should coat the pasta and be gently absorbed by it. If the sauce seems too thick or you want to extend it a bit, add some of pasta water, a few tablespoons at a time.
• Plate individually, making sure everyone gets nice chunks of eggplant. Grate some cheese on top—not much! Just a grace note. It’s ready.

Kitchen Notes

Eggplant options. Most recipes for pasta alla Norma call for conventional eggplant, cut into matchsticks or chunks—by all means do that if that is the eggplant you have. The Japanese eggplant was just terrific.

Pick your tomatoes. We used Tuttorosso peeled plum tomatoes and chopped them very quickly in the blender—just for a second. You could use your favorite plain canned tomatoes, or fresh Romas.