pasta alla norma – penne with grilled eggplant, salted ricotta & cabernet estate reserve® tomatoes
 
Prep time
Total time
 
Author:
Yields: 4 portions
Ingredients
  • 1 bag Village Farms cabernet estate reserve® tomatoes
  • ¼ cup Extra virgin olive oil
  • ½ cup Onions
  • 1 large Eggplant
  • 1 tbsp Garlic
  • 2 tbsp Capers
  • ½ cup Fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley
  • 1 tsp Peperoncino chili flakes
  • ½ cup Salted ricotta (can substitute Pecorino)
  • ½ tsp Black pepper
  • ¼ tsp Sea Salt
  • 1 lb Penne pasta, cooked
Instructions
  1. Put on a pot of boiling salted water and cook pasta as you work through the prep work.
  2. Slice eggplant into 1" thick slices. Brush liberally with olive oil and season with salt, pepper, and chilies.
  3. Preheat grill pan (could be substituted with bbq or heavy skillet).
  4. Once at high heat, grill/sear eggplant until you get char marks or good caramelization.
  5. Dice the grilled/seared eggplant into 1" cubes and reserve.
  6. Dice onions, and rough chop the parsley – reserve
  7. Mince capers and garlic to a fine dice – reserve.
  8. Preheat sauté pan to medium heat. Add ¼ cup olive oil.
  9. Sweat onions, capers, and garlic until translucent.
  10. Add the Cabernet tomatoes – sauté 5 minutes on medium heat.
  11. Transfer ½ of the tomatoes and onions to another bowl and purée with a hand blender – reserve.
  12. Add the eggplant and parsley to the pan – sauté on high heat for 2 minutes, then add tomato purée.
  13. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes on low heat.
  14. Toss with cooked pasta. Finish with salted ricotta and another ounce of olive oil.
Recipe by Village Farms at https://staging-villagefarmsn.kinsta.cloud/recipes/cabernet-estate-reserve-recipe2