Compliments to the chef

[Andres]

I love your blog @Scienter.

I guess I should offer something in return for all the joy: pasta à la norma. It's very easy and perfect for your Meatless Monday.

You need (for 2 persons):

- one eggplant (decent sized, about 300 grams);
- 2 or 3 cloves of garlic;
- canned tomatoe (you can use fresh tomatoes and make fresh tomatoe sauce if you have the time, but canned tomatoes works just fine) or passata (1/2 liter);
- a few fresh leaves of basilicum (6 to 8);
- 150 grams of pasta of your choice (I prefer penne with this dish);
- half a cup grated salted ricota or Parmeggiano;
- olive oil (lots of it)
- salt and pepper

Now, for the eggplant, there are two ways of doing this: either you chop it in cubes and let them rest in salted water for about an hour or you don't bother with that and start right away (eggplant soaks up lots of oil, if you put them in salted water first, they soak up less oil).

Heat the olive oil (throw in quiet a lot), crush your garlic cloves (gives more flavour like that) and fry them for 30 seconds or so. Then throw in the chops of the eggplant. You'll notice they soak up a lot of oil; keep adding oil until all the chops have changed colour (make sure you use quality olive oil for better taste), after a minute or 5, add in the canned tomatoes (one or two cans) or the passata and let it cook on a low fire. In the meanwhile, cook the pasta (don't forget to add a pit of salt and some olive oil to the water). While the pasta is cooking, you can add a bit of salt and pepper to the sauce; I also add a few leaves of basilic already and keep some to put on each plate as decoration.

Once the pasta is ready, drain them, season with the eggplant-tomatoe sauce, add a bit of cheese on the top + a leave of basilicum for decoration, put the rest of the cheese on the table. Goes best with red wine, imo, but rosé is ok as well.

EDIT: sometimes I also add a chopped shalot to the sauce, but it's not really necessary.