THIS is NOT your Nonna’s Pasta Alla Norma

Italy isn’t known for reimagining their classic dishes, but in Rome, a young Sicilian chef served me a modern take on Pasta alla Norma that was so exceptional, we’re going to be making it here today. This is Pasta alla Norma 2.0

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Italy is most certainly not known for reinventing their classics, but in Rome, a young Sicilian chef served me a modern take on pasta alanora that was so exceptional, we need to cover it here today. This is pasta 2.0. Everyone knows Italians are famously stubborn, especially when it comes to their food. Tampering with classics, you get your legs broke. But in Rome at the W Hotel, there’s a restaurant called Guyana with a young Sicilian chef named Nicola Zamperei serving a pasta Alanorma that shows how Italy’s young chefs are daring to improve their own classics. And it starts with eggplant, of course, and we’re starting with four. This should be enough to serve about three plates of pasta. And that depends on how much of an eggplant puree you’re going to serve on each plate. And that’s why we’re making more. So, I’d serve about five of them if I’m making them for four people. So, what we want to do is get these roasting. Roasting is something I like to do. It gets a little bit more texture and you end up having to use a lot less oil. These things are like sponges. I’m going to shave off the oblong end. And then we’re going to cut, let’s call them, I don’t know, 1/2 in pieces. Something like that. I’m going to lay that last piece down and just cut it like that. Then what we want to do, cut them in half. And then just cut these chunks. [Music] You’re going to end up with something like that. And you can remove the skin. I actually think it adds nice texture. Some people don’t like it, some people like to remove it, but it’s perfectly edible. And what’s important is making sure we don’t crowd our sheet tray and steam this. We’re looking for some texture and color. So, if you need to use two sheet trays to roast these, especially if you’re making them for more people, by all means, use two sheet trays. Then what we want to do, and you don’t have to do this step, you can kind of go straight in, but I’m going to try and expel some of that moisture, get them tossed up, and try and catch their liquid, the bottom of the pan. We’re just going to let those chill for like an hour. [Music] So, it’s been about an hour. It’s kind of expelled a lot of its moisture. You could let this happen overnight, too, but much time as you can get it, it’s usually good. What I’m going to do is since we’re going to use eggplant in two ways, we’re sort of layering eggplant. I have a second sheet tray over here. I’m going to take the smaller pieces, the ones that are probably going to overcook, fill it, but not overcrowd it. And then you just want to make sure they’re nicely patted dry. And then with this guy, just going to wipe out any moisture and drop those on and just get them nice and dry. Then we’re going to take some olive oil. And these, remember, these are like a sponge, so you need a good amount. Give them a toss. Allow them to develop really nice color. Hoping to get some texture out of it as well. See that spacing, right? That’s perfect. So, essentially, this is going to be stuff we use to top our pasta at the end. This is going to make a eggplant puree. So, we’re going to take some garlic in their shells. We’re going to throw that in there, too. And then I just want to make sure nothing’s standing up and the thickest side is touching, making good contact so we can get a nice little char on that side. Just going to hit it with a little bit more salt. That’s going into a 450° oven. Let it cook for about 15 minutes on that first side before we give it a check. It’s been 15 minutes. Let’s take a look. You see that? That’s what we’re looking for. And we’re just going to give it a toss. Now, if you try and overcrowd them, they’re just going to steam and soften and kind of turn to mush. We’ll just let that go till that other side browns really nicely. 5 10 minutes. Keep an eye on it. So, it’s been about 30 minutes and I’ve got my two trays here. The one I said I was going to use for the puree, I’m actually going to use this one for my toppings. These are more perfectly roasted. These also have some nice caramelization flavor development, but we’re going to use this for the puree. So, we’re going to need a blender. I’m going to toss in the roasted garlic and then get in our eggplant. [Music] To that, I’ve got a lime. You sure about that? Lemon. I got a couple of cheeks. I’m just going to hit it with a little acidity. Brighten it up. Little salt, some olive oil. And I’m going to see where we’re at. If we need to adjust the consistency, I might add a touch of water. Going to start out thick. And I want it to be thick, but I also want it to be smooth. So, I’m just going to add enough water in it until we get to like a nice smooth consistency. So, good with the lemon. I’m sure the chef roams a bit smoother and more perfect, but this is kind of what you’re looking for. Something slightly looser than a hummus. That’s going to sit at the bottom of the plate. And then we’re going to toss our pasta in the regular sauce and serve it on top. And as you bite through, you drag a piece of rietoni through that. And it’s just amplified flavor. So, we’re going to cover this and we’re going to keep it warm. And the rest of the ingredients pretty basic to Alanorma. We’ve got our tomato pata. It’s August, so this is a batch of my homemade fresh tomato pata. If you want to see how I do my summer sauce, I’ll leave a link to that down in the description. We just got regular pureeed tomatoes, basil, garlic, some ricott salata. It’s almost like a koti cheese on the saltier side. It’s really good and iconic in this dish. In the dish I had, they used pakuri and they stood them up, but it looked like a half cut paceri. All the paceris I saw were pretty long. So, we’re using a a mezz manik. You could use a mezza rietoni. And we’re just going to cook these and stand them up on the plate like that. Seems silly, but I actually think it serves a purpose. Just need to slice up the garlic. The chef also topped it with a basil oil, which I’m not going to do. It’s already a fairly ambitious dish compared to the original, so we’re going to keep it as simple as we can for home. Just slice up the garlic. I’m just going to pick off the leaves I want to use and start the sauce off with just the stem. It starts basically with weekday sauce, which is my show’s mother sauce essentially. So now our water is boiling. We can season it. We want it to taste like seasoned broth. And now we can make pastal Norma 2.0. So in a sier, our sauté pan on mediumigh heat, we’re going to add in a little bit of olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. I’m going to add a basil stem to the oil. And then I’m going to toss in my sliced garlic. And I’m going to begin to infuse the flavor of the garlic and the basil into the oil. The oil is the vehicle that’s going to transfer that flavor into the tomatoes. Once the garlic starts to brown around the edges, we’re going to add in two ladles of our tomato puree or our tomato sauce. It’s going to work perfectly for one portion, which I’m making today. Bring it down to a simmer and cook it for about 10 to 15 minutes. We’re looking to reduce some of that moisture out of the sauce and thicken it to the perfect consistency. While the sauce is cooking, we can add in our pasta to a pot of salted boiling water. I’m going to serve them standing up like this. So, I just measured the amount for one in the bowl. And the box says the pasta should cook for 10 minutes for al dente. So, I’m going to set a timer for eight. By now, the sauce has been cooking and reducing down. And it looks like the right consistency. You want to be able to see the pan for a second when you drag a spatula through it. Then after eight minutes, we’re going to pull that riatoni out and transfer it into the pasta sauce. And we’re going to slow down the cooking of the pasta here and finish it in the sauce, giving us more control on al dente and making sure we can reduce that sauce down so that it perfectly clings to the pasta. If you timed it right, the pasta should be al dente and the sauce should be clinging to it at the same time. And it’s ready to serve. And I’ve added some of that eggplant puree to the sauce, which is very good, but I wanted to go for a nice bright red color to contrast the color of the eggplant puree. So, I chose to not do that, but you could. Now, we can put it all together. First step, we’re going to take some of our eggplant puree. Couple tablespoons. And we’re going to take our spoon, right? And right in the center, push down. And then start spinning the plate, creating a nice round covering of that eggplant puree, creating a base for our riatoni or or man to sit on. Now, you might think it’s silly to plate it the way we’re going to plate it, but I actually find it to be functional, not only beautiful, which it certainly is. Once the noodles are stood up, we’re just going to top it with a little bit more of that sauce. We’re going to top that with the roasted eggplant, the ones with some nice texture on them. Then, we’ll lay a few leaves of basil on the plate, and then finish with the riot salata. Like I said, what’s nice about standing them up is I can take some eggplant, stick my fork in between a couple, drag it out, and you almost get everything in one bite. How is that bite? It’s outstanding. The tomato sauce gives you freshness. The puree gives you richness and flavor, like depth of flavor, and you get the bite of the eggplant. This is the way I like to eat pasta normal. Now, of course, I’ve got a much simpler version of this that you can make if you want, but this really speaks to me in sort of my philosophy of being a modern grandma, honoring classic, but still expressing yourself, being who you are, and sometimes breaking some rules. Amazing job, amazing recipe. If you want it, the link’s going to be down in the description. And more importantly, if you want to be a part of my new community over on Patreon, you can join my new cooking school. Not another cooking school, the home school for home chefs. two episodes a month of new lessons shot in a different way. One live stream where we all get together and I review all the homework that I’ve given you that month and you get direct access to me. Head on over to Patreon. Link’s going to be down in the description. That’s all that I have today. I’ll see you next time. Until then, take care of yourself and go feed yourself. [Music]