PASTA WITH
CARAMELIZED
EGGPLANT AND RICH
TOMATO SAUCE
(PASTA ALLA NORMA)
I’d had versions of pasta alla Norma, the classic Sicilian
dish of pasta with tomatoes and eggplant, many times and
always ended up scratching my head and thinking, “I just
don’t get it.” I mean, there’s nothing wrong with tomato
sauce and caramelized eggplant, but what in the world is
that bland, mild ricotta salata doing sitting on top? Surely
you want a more flavorful aged cheese for grating, right?
It wasn’t until I tasted it in Sicily while my wife and I
were on our fourth honeymoon (or was it our fifth?—she
drags me on these things every year, I lose track) that I
got it: real ricotta salata is nothing like the stuff we
generally find here. The Sicilian version is made with
sheep’s milk that is aged until it is intensely tangy, with a
strong barnyard aroma that is really the backbone of the
dish. I’ve found it stateside in specialty Italian markets,
but if you can’t find properly aged ricotta salata (smell it
before you buy it—it should have a powerful aroma), you
can replace it with an aged caciocavallo, a good sheep’s-