If you have eggplants in the garden, they’re likely giving the recipe repertoire a work out at the moment. I know mine are. babaganoush, Lebanese marinated, eggplant dip, Indian eggplant pickle, spicy eggplant stew, moussaka…
Even if you haven’t got them in the garden, they’re fully in season at the moment, probably appearing in your CSO box or Farmer’s Market, maybe even being foisted on you by a neighbour like me 🙂
Sometimes I think we overelaborate recipes.
Last night I made a Middle Eastern style stuffed eggplants for dinner, and it was good, but when I compare it with tonight’s Pasta alla Norma, I think it was over-elaborated. In-season produce needs so little. Too many ingredients and you lose the once-a-year treat of fully appreciating eggplants at their peak.
Pasta alla Norma does justice to eggplants.
It’s just:
- Eggplants. One per person is ideal. Yes that is a lot. Be brave. It works. Chopped into 25mm cubes and roasted or sauteed in a decent amount of olive oil, little sprinkle of salt and pepper, till the cubes are soft and creamy on the inside and caramelised on the outside. I like roasting better, but sauteeing is fine so long as you get the soft and the caramelised. They don’t need pre-salting for this.
- A nice, basic tomato passata – nothing too elaborate – just onion, garlic, tomatoes, maybe a splash of wine, a sprinkle of oregano, a touch of chili, but no adding capsicum or olives or zucchini or spinach or anything else. Out of a jar even, except that you probably have magnificent tomatoes going nuts in the garden or in the Farmer’s Market right now too.
- Pasta. Any shape, homemade or bought (but homemade with real eggs is so worth it). I have some in the freezer from when our chooks were laying spring egg gluts.
- Fresh basil, roughly chopped. A decent handful per person. You probably have that going nuts too.
- Grated parmesan.
That’s it. Roast the eggplant. Cook the pasta, and the passata if you are making homemade. Toss the lot together in a big pan. Add the basil. Serve it into bowls and add a generous sprinkle of parmesan on top.
So good. So so much better than you would think for something that simple.
