PASTA ALLA NORMA

Directions

STEP 1 - Grab a nice size span and put about 2-3 table spoons of olive oil and 2 teaspoons of garlic. STEP 2 - Put your pan on the stove at medium low temperature. STEP 3 - Once the garlic a bit cooked, you can add the San Marzano tomatoes but make sure you squeeze them as you put them in. Then add the sauce too. STEP 4 - Put the heat on medium and add 2 pinches of salt and 2 pinches of black pepper. Also add 2 pinches of oregano. STEP 5 - Add 2 more tablespoons of olive oil and add a few branches of basil but don't chop them because we'll take them out later. STEP 6 - Mix everything and put it now on low/medium temperature and leave it on the stove for about 15 minutes for now. STEP 7 - Put the sunflower oil on a pan so we can fry the eggplant and put it on medium temperature. STEP 8 - Rinse your eggplant and cut it vertically so you can decorate your plate nicely. STEP 9 - Put the eggplant on the flour and cover your eggplant allover with flour before you put it in the oil. Once the sunflower oil is hot you can put the eggplant peaces in. BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR EYES!!! DO NOT BURN YOURSELF!!! STEP 10 - We want the eggplant to be crispy. So when you think it is ready, you can take them out and put them on a plate with a napkin so it absorbs the oil. STEP 11 - Check on your tomato sauce and lower temperature to low. Add a bit of salt and pepper if you think that it is needed but be careful with salt because we have the salted ricotta so we don't want to add a lot of salt. STEP 12 - Put some water to boil for the pasta. Add a pinch of salt to the water. STEP 13 - Turn off your tomato sauce. You can just put on the side the amount of sauce that you will use for your pasta. STEP 14 - Once your pasta is ready, you can take it out of the water and put it on a pan with the tomato sauce for few minutes. STEP 15 - Add a couple more spoons of olive oil. STEP 16 - Once ready, put your eggplant at the bottom and then a layer of pasta on top, another layer of eggplant, another layer of pasta and finally some graded ricotta cheese and then some olive oil and pepper.