Who calls it Pasta cu sucu di mulinciani, who calls it Pasta ca sassa and mulinciani, who calls Pasta câ Norma, it is certain that Pasta alla Norma, the pride of the Catania gastronomic tradition, is a triumph of Mediterranean flavors and colours.
She was born in Catania but is now the identity of the cuisine of all of Sicily and there is no Sicilian restaurant in Italy and in the world that does not have it on the menu.
If its goodness is a certainty that has gone beyond all borders, to the point that Pasta alla Norma Day is celebrated on 23 September, the origin of the name is less certain.
The most accredited is cloaked in cultural veins, and claims that the recipe was developed by a Sicilian chef precisely on the occasion of the celebrations for Norma, the most celebrated opera by the great Catania composer Vincenzo Bellini who, after a premiere Scala di Milano troubled and far from encouraging, it was transformed in a short time into one of the greatest masterpieces in the world of melodrama.
In all probability, the pasta made its appearance during a reception at which Bellini's fellow citizens wanted to demonstrate their admiration for the composer and his work. Dedicating him a dish with the flavors of his Sicily.
However, there is also another version which sees the Sicilian playwright Nino Martoglio director, screenwriter, writer and poet, co-author with Luigi Pirandello of two plays, A Vilanza (La Libra), and Cappidazzu pava tuttu, exclaim in front of a plate of pasta so seasoned "It's a Norma!", to indicate its supreme goodness and comparing it to the famous work by Vincenzo Bellini.
Finally, there is another version, this time more enjoyable, which always sees Martoglio as the protagonist together with Angelo Musco, a great theater and cinema actor for whom the Nobel Prize winner Pirandello wrote some comedies, including 'A birritta cu' the ciancianeddi (which Musco represented in Rome), Liolà and Pensaci, Giacomino!
Between the two there was a strong artistic partnership, Musco had acted, in fact, also in many comedies by Martoglio. Now therefore, according to this version, Musco and Martoglio were invited to lunch by the actor's sister in her house in Via Etnea. Daughter-in-law Saridda D'Urso prepared a dish for the two exceptional guests in which she put all her love for the products of the countryside and for the flavors of her region: grated salted ricotta, fried aubergines, tomatoes, basil. At the first forkful Martoglio was unable to refrain from exclaiming: "Signora Saridda, chista è 'na vera Norma!". Referring to a popular saying in vogue in Catania at the time that everything that was exceptional was compared to the successful work of Vincenzo Bellini.
Imagine if this dish could have been missing in the Terrammare restaurant that Chef Peppe Barone has opened in Milan in Via Giuseppe Sacchi in the middle of the Brera, bringing you the air of the cuisine of Modica, the theater of the companies of Inspector Montalbano, where Barone built his fame at the interior of an ancient noble palace with the Fattoria delle Torri restaurant.
“After numerous experiences in Italy, I wanted to bring contemporary Sicilian cuisine to Milan, in step with changes, made with lots of blue fish, respecting the bio-sustainability of the Mediterranean, creating an ideal union between land and sea” says the chef Peppe Barone.
“An island within an island, the emotion of being at the top of the boot, with roots still anchored to our land and our sea to tell an identity made up of memory, play, experience, ambition, perception of beauty and good, with a magic that combines love and passion” adds Stefania Lattuca, co-owner and restaurant manager of Terrammare. The workers and materials that built the venue, the kitchen brigade and the dining room staff are also Sicilian, for a great triumph of the Trinacria.
This is how Terrammare has transformed, explains the Chef in "A project of creative and Mediterranean cuisine, which started 25 years ago as a sentimental and social redemption for Modica women in the kitchen and found fertile ground in the Fattoria delle Torri restaurant in Modica, which add the teachings of Luigi Veronelli, my mentor 35 years ago now” says Peppe Barone.
Of course, his Trinacrense roots have always established themselves on the more or less fleeting fashions that have influenced Italian catering in recent years. And Barone has always remained faithful to his Sicily while marrying innovative cooking solutions and combinations. “The raw material must tell about itself, so I structured a menu together with Stefania Lattuca that tells of the treasures of our land with a cuisine that is tangible, easy, gluttonous, emotional”.
And here is his Pasta alla norma, aesthetically pleasing and innovative, but whose heart is all authentically Sicilian, indeed from Catania.
Norma's recipe by Chef Peppe Barone
Ingredients:
– 700 g Aubergines
– 300 g Pixel tomatoes
– 500 g Round tomatoes
– 280g Rigatoni
– 200 g Date tomatoes
– 150 g Salted sheep ricotta
– 100 g Fresh basil
– 40 g White onion
– 1 clove of garlic
– EVO oil and salt to taste
Procedure:
In a shallow pot, brown the chopped onion and the whole garlic clove, then add the tomatoes washed in water. Halfway through cooking add salt and towards the end add a few fresh basil leaves. Pass everything and, if the sauce is too liquid, pass it over the heat to reduce it.
Blanch the basil leaves for about a minute in boiling water, put them in a bowl with water and ice and blend them with EVO oil and salt.
Wash and dry the aubergines, slice them half a centimeter thick, so that they remain juicy but crunchy. If you think they are of bitter quality, place them in a colander or sieve in alternating layers with salt or dry them and dip them in very hot EVO oil, around 170°, in an iron pan. Once golden, salt them and alternate them with absorbent paper, maximum two layers to avoid crushing them.
Boil the pasta in salted water, draining it al dente.
Introduction
Place a slice of aubergine on a flat plate and arrange the rigatoni, then spread the tomato sauce with a spoon, a drizzle of basil pesto and a sprinkling of ricotta salata and make another layer following the same order. Finish with aubergine, ricotta salata and pesto, then garnish as desired.
