Pasta Alla Norma

 Pasta Alla Norma- A surprisingly quick and easy recipe using eggplant. It’s also dairy and egg free, vegan.

Pasta Alla Norma, Dairy and Egg Free, Vegan
https://youtu.be/hDyK40Ydz4c

You will need: ( for 4 people)

1 medium sized eggplant- peeled and cubed. It will shrink to almost nothing when cooked so you can put more if you like.

Extra virgin olive oil- you will need several tbsps to fry the eggplant. Eggplant tends to absorb a lot of oil while cooking so you want to use a good olive oil

Half a medium onion, chopped

2 medium garlic cloves, minced

1 jar Passata, or can of Italian plum tomatoes 

3/4 of a Tsp each of dried basil and oregano, or to taste

3/4 tsp salt, or to taste 

pepper, to taste

Vegan mozzarella cheese to sprinkle on top, if desired. If you don’t have a dairy allergy, top with grated Parmesan or Romano cheese.

Pasta- (400 grams)I used penne rigate but you can use rigatoni or any broad or large pasta shape.

In a large frying pan, drizzle 3 to 4 Tbsps of some good olive oil.

Saute, over medium to medium high heat the eggplant until almost fully cooked through. Should only take a few minutes. Add a little more olive oil as needed.

Remove eggplant from frying pan. It will be returned to the pan to finish cooking once the sauce is cooked.

In the same pan, drizzle a couple of tbsps of olive oil and fry the onion and garlic over medium heat for a minute or so.

Add your jar of Passata or can of plum tomatoes. Stir and add your basil, oregano salt and pepper. Let simmer for about half an hour until reduced and thickened.

Boil the pasta.

Return the eggplant to the sauce and simmer for about 5 more minutes until eggplant is cooked through and through. I like to see the chunks of eggplant in my sauce. If you prefer, you can cook the eggplant in the sauce a lot longer so it disintegrates. Easily becomes invisible if the children might be hesitant about eating eggplant 😁

Taste for seasoning.

Boil your pasta and add to the eggplant sauce! Top with any cheese of your choice. 

Few ingredients, but delicious 😋