Pasta alla Norma with Grilled Chicken
The entire family enjoyed this new-to-us pasta dish for a fun Fancy Friday dinner!
I am the food dumping ground for my friends and family.
Have a surplus of something from your garden? I’ll take it.
Cleaning out your fridge before vacation? Sure, I’m game.
Bought something special for a recipe and don’t know what to do with the leftovers? Hand it over. I will figure it out!
Those three examples were easy to come up with because they happen to me all the time, especially with produce, which they also know is my absolute favorite!
I’m equal parts what-are-you-crazy-don’t-throw-that-away? and let’s-play-Chopped! I hate wasting food, and I love experimenting with new recipes. Cooking is a complete creative outlet for me. Call me crazy, but I actually find it relaxing. All I need is me, my kitchen, and a good playlist.
Okay, that’s a pretty long intro for a simple dish, but I needed to explain because the inspiration for this Fancy Friday dinner was twofold:
My mom brought me an aging eggplant she didn’t know what to do with.
I had a big-ass bag of grape tomatoes left over from a party I hosted on Sunday.
My head immediately went to pasta. I already had chicken deforsted, so I had a protien source, I just needed some inspuration on how to use the tomatoes and eggplant.
After a quick Google search, I landed on some Pasta alla Norma recipes and was immediately sold. How have I ever heard of this before?!
From what I read, it’s pasta with a garlicky tomato sauce, eggplant, and ricotta salata (a firm cheese). I took inspiration from the recipes I found but didn’t follow them exactly. I wanted to use up the grape tomatoes, and I didn’t have ricotta salata, but I did have pecorino, so I just went with it and started cooking.
Here’s what I did:
I cubed the eggplant, salted it, and zapped it in the microwave for a few minutes to dry it out a bit (I learned that trick from America’s Test Kitchen). Then, I fried it in a drizzle of olive oil until it started to brown. I removed the eggplant from the skillet and blistered the tomatoes. Once they burst (well, I squashed them with my spatula), I added a bunch of minced garlic, a pinch of red pepper flakes, and a splash of chicken stock.
While that simmered, I cooked up some linguini. Once it was just about al dente, I stirred in a handful of fresh basil and a generous grating of pecorino into the tomato-eggplant mixture. Then I added the pasta, a bit of pasta water, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
After everything was tossed together, WOW, what a tasty, fun dish. I topped the pasta with slices of grilled chicken because, you know, protein. :)
The entire family enjoyed this dish for a change. Usually, my Fancy Friday attempts aren’t universally enjoyed, but even The 14-Year-Old ate this one with no complaints!
If you haven’t tried Pasta all Norma, I highly reccomend! It’s a fun summer pasta dish and cool way to get some eggplant into your diet.