Catania, Sicily. The name commemorates Vincenzo Bellini's opera Norma (1831) — according to tradition, the playwright Nino Martoglio declared the pasta was 'a real Norma' (a masterpiece) on tasting it. The dish became the standard of Catanese pasta.
Pasta alla Norma is the canonical pasta of Catania — so named because its perfection was compared to Bellini's opera Norma when it became the standard of Sicilian pasta. The components are simple: spaghetti or rigatoni, fried eggplant, tomato sauce, fresh basil, and grated ricotta salata (salted, dried ricotta). The critical technique is frying the eggplant correctly — it must be fried at high temperature until deeply golden and tender inside, not merely softened. The ricotta salata grated over is the flavour that defines the dish.
The deeply fried eggplant has a concentrated, slightly caramelised sweetness — no bitterness remains after proper frying. The tomato sauce provides acid and freshness. The ricotta salata is sharp, salty, and slightly grainy — it dissolves into the warm pasta and provides the seasoning counterpoint to the sweet eggplant and tomato. This is a dish of four flavours in perfect equilibrium.
Eggplant is sliced 1cm thick, salted and left to drain 30-60 minutes (to remove moisture and reduce bitterness), then dried thoroughly and fried in abundant olive oil at 180°C until deep golden on both sides and completely tender — not translucent but genuinely cooked through. The tomato sauce is simple: olive oil, garlic, good tomato (passata or crushed San Marzano), fresh basil. Toss pasta with the sauce, then arrange the fried eggplant on top (not stirred in — layered) with fresh basil and a generous amount of grated ricotta salata.
The correct fried eggplant for Norma should be golden-brown on the outside and silky-soft inside, having absorbed and then released the frying oil. Drain on paper for 5 minutes but serve warm — cold fried eggplant loses its texture. Ricotta salata can be difficult to find outside of Sicily; dry firm Greek Cypriot halloumi grated is a reasonable substitute in flavour if not texture.
Under-frying the eggplant — pale, soft eggplant adds texture without flavour; it must be golden and slightly caramelised. Too little olive oil for frying — eggplant absorbs oil aggressively at first but releases it once cooked; insufficient oil means steamed eggplant, not fried. Stirring the eggplant into the pasta — it should remain visible as separate slices on top. Using fresh ricotta instead of ricotta salata — completely different product; ricotta salata is firm, salty, and aged.
Mary Taylor Simeti, Pomp and Sustenance; Giorgio Locatelli, Made in Italy