So I had this eggplant just hanging out in my fridge needing to be used up. I didn’t want to BUY another eggplant in order to make a large eggplant dish (it felt counterproductive) so instead I started looking for recipes featuring eggplant. I’d also been craving pasta so I started searching for some sort of pasta/eggplant dish.
My search took me to Epicurious as usual where I found this recipe for Rigatoni alla Norma. I liked the short ingredient and relative ease of preparation. But as it turns out I’m a masochist so instead of buying marinara sauce I made my own… on a WEEKNIGHT. True story. So I spent over an hour making pasta sauce… awesome. In all fairness it wasn’t that bad. While the sauce was cooking I fried the eggplant and made the noodles so it probably didn’t add that much time to the whole process. Generally jarred pasta sauce freaks me out. Why is there sugar (or HFCS or glucose/fructose) in pasta sauce? Seriously.
The pasta turned out well and I had leftovers for DAYS. It’s not one of my all time best pasta dishes but it was good enough for me.
Baked Rigatoni alla Norma
2 pounds eggplant, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 cup olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 1/2 cups marinara sauce (homemade or use 24 to 26 ounce bottled sauce)
1 pound dried rigatoni
1 pound cold mozzarella (preferably salted fresh), cut into 1/2-inch cubes
Toss eggplant with 2 teaspoon salt in a colander. Drain 30 minutes. Rinse, then squeeze out excess liquid and pat dry.
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.
Heat oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Fry eggplant in 3 batches, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 5 minutes per batch. Transfer with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain.
Discard all but 2 tablespoons oil from skillet, then sauté onion with 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper until golden, about 8 minutes. Stir in sauce and eggplant and simmer 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook rigatoni in a pasta pot of boiling salted water (2 tablespoons salt for 6 quart water) until al dente, then drain. Stir together pasta, sauce, and half of mozzarella in pot. Transfer to a 3-quart baking dish and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella. Bake until cheese is melted and golden in spots, about 45 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
Gourmet
January 2009
by Lillian Chou
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