PASTA D'A...MARE - SICILY | Treccia alla Norma from Una Stella in cucina

Dietary habit: Vegetarian Vegetables

60 min

Medium

A tour through Campania, Puglia, Sicily and Liguria for the ‘Pasta d'a...mare’ column from Piatti Tipici and Una Stella in cucina, recipes created for a substantial beach snack.

What do Sicilians eat on the beach? I imagine them on a beach chair with a big plate of cold pasta alla Norma on their knees. I may be wrong, and that may upset them, but if I was Sicilian I’d do exactly that! And that’s why I’ve prepared this mainstay of Sicilian cuisine, one of my very favourite dishes, for the first stage of the itinerant ‘Pasta d’A....mare’ column, devised with Pasta Armando and Piatti Tipici.

You’ll find the ingredients and a step-by-step guide to preparation below. I’ll tell you now that I used datterini (grape tomatoes) and I didn’t peel them. Will that be another reason why Sicilians will be upset or will I convince them to taste my version?

Recipe of

Stella Menna

Ingredients

300 g
of Treccia Pasta Armando
2
Round aubergine
300 g
of Datterini (grape tomatoes)
400 g
of Tomatoes sauce
1 clove
of Garlic
250 ml
Olio extravergine di oliva per friggere
Extra virgin olive oil
10 leaves
of Fresh basil
Ricotta salata (a hard, seasoned cheese) to taste

Recommended pasta for this recipe

Armando’s wheat

Treccia

Tortiglione

Armando’s wheat

Fusillo

Armando’s wheat

Preparation

Dice the aubergine and cook it in a frying pan with plenty of oil for about 10 minutes or until golden all over. Put a dribble of olive oil into a non-stick frying pan, add the clove of garlic and brown.

As soon as it is slightly golden, add the grape tomatoes and leave to cook for 5 minutes then add the tomato purée and the basil.

Remove the clove of garlic and leave the rest to cook for another 15 minutes.

Cook the Treccia Pasta Armando in plenty of slightly salted water.

Drain the pasta al dente directly into the frying pan with the sauce and complete the cooking.

When the Treccia Pasta Armando is ready, add the aubergine, mix for a few more minutes, turn off the heat and add as much grated ricotta salata as you want.

Cool and you have a delicious meal to eat on the beach.