What's for dinner - Pasta almost alla Norma

We got inspired by yet another tv programme, this time it was Rick Stein and his mediterranean escapes and this time he was in Sicily. When you’ve just had dinner and all you can think of is this bowl of pasta he is cooking on tv means it must be reeeally delicious and you’re definitely having this for dinner the next day. We changed the original recipe a tiny bit and instead of aubergine I used paprika, only because there weren’t any in the shop. I must tell you…it was sooo goood. Personally, apart from grilled aubergine, I don’t particularly like it, I think it’s just boring. So, Pasta alla Norma, cuz that’s what we were cooking today, is one of the easiest recipies in the world and the story behind its name is also very cool. It was named after Bellini’s brilliant and hugely successful opera Norma. Some time later a famous writer, delighted with what he was eating, shouted that’s is so perfect!…just like Norma!. So there you go, Pasta alla Norma, simple yet so delicious and it’s a sicilian classic.
If you ever cook it, use aubergine but with pepper it was equally good.

What you need

300 gr spaghetti

3/4 tomatoes (or 1 can)

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

bunch of basil

200gr ricotta cheese

olive oil

s&p

Start with frying squashed garlic in 2 tbs olive oil. Take it out after 1 minute. Add chopped onion and 3 mins later peeled, chopped pepper. When using aubergine, chop it and generously salt, put aside for 15 mint to reduce its bitterness, rinse and fry. Now add tomatoes and fry for another 5mins. Turn the heat off, add crumbled ricotta and chopped basil, add previously boiled pasta (al dente!) 

That’s it! It literally took us 15 mins.