Eggplant Rolls “Norma style” with spaghetti

Let's head straight to Sicily this week with this fabulous dish which would be a winner at a dinner party with eggplant being the special ingredient.
It is basically spaghetti in tomato sauce rolled in fried eggplant, topped up with more tomato sauce and salted ricotta or Pecorino cheese. A few green basil leaves will dress these rolls to the nines. Finally pop it in the oven to crisp up for a few minutes...and look at your guests expressions 🙂
If you prefer a lighter version you can just slice the aubergines and put them over a griddle pan and brush them with a little olive oil. It will be equally tasty.
- Prep Time : 40 minutes
- Cook Time : 30 minutes
- Yield : aubergines
Ingredients
- eggplant (aubergines) - 2
- spaghetti - 250 g
- ripe tomatoes - 1Kg
- garlic cloves - 2
- salted ricotta or Pecorino cheese - 300 g
- salt to taste
- olive oil
- fresh basil leaves
- oil for frying
Instructions
Slice the eggplant about 1/2 cm thick (not too thin). Sprinkle them with salt and let them rest for 10 minutes then pat with kitchen paper to absorb the water they have released.
Fry them in hot oil
Prepare the tomato sauce by cooking the tomatoes with the garlic cloves, a few basil leaves and salt to taste. Drizzle with olive oil. Cook until the sauce has reduced (about 15 minutes). Add small pieces of eggplant some grated pecorino cheese or ricotta.
Cook the spaghetti in boiling salty water for two minutes less than it states on the packet then drain and toss with the tomato sauce and drizzle with olive oil. Leave some sauce aside for later to put on the rolls.
Put a forkful of spaghetti over each eggplant's slice
Now add a piece of ricotta or pecorino cheese and roll up (secure with a toothpick if you wish)
Arrange the rolls on a greased baking tray. Put a tbsp of tomato sauce over each roll and a sprinkle of cheese.
Bake at 190° for about 10 minutes or until golden. Decorate with basil leaves.
Look beautiful Alida!
I love aubergines!
Alida, these aubergine rolls look so fancy and delicious!
Che buoni e anche ben presentati, li ho preparati anch’io tempo fa, sono molto gustosi e un modo diverso per preparare la pasta alla Norma, brava! Buona domenica, ciao!
These are so special, Alida! I love the idea of wrapping eggplant around the pasta and frying the eggplant just makes it even tastier… This would be wonderful entree to serve guests…
That is a wonderful looking dish. I only wish I had seen this a few hours earlier and I would have used the aubergines I had to make this dish. Well, I wouldn’t have had any guests to share it with anyway.
Simple, creative and gorgeous take on Pasta ala Norma.