Norma al forno

Name: Norma al forno
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Italian recipes
Ingredients: Olive oil to shallow fry; 2 aubergines, cut into 1cm chunks; 4 garlic cloves, finely sliced; Bunch basil, leaves and stalks separated, stalks finely chopped; 2 tbsp tomato purée; 500g passata; 1 tsp red wine vinegar; 500g tubular pasta (see Know-how); 125g mozzarella ball, drained and chopped into small cubes; 25g pecorino, ricotta salata or veggie alternative, finely grated

By: Tom Shingler
Head of food, delicious.

Published: 15 Jul 24
Updated: 17 Jul 24

Test kitchen approved

This aubergine pasta bake (norma al forno) is based on a dish our head of food Tom Shingler had in Palermo, Sicily, during a scorching hot summer. Eating a pasta bake in 40°C heat doesn’t sound ideal, but when served at room temperature (as a lot of baked pasta dishes are in Italy) it’s surprisingly suitable (although a cold glass of wine certainly helps). It’s quite a dry dish, rather than swimming in sauce, so the resting time is needed to give it a chance to firm up; you should be able to lift a slice out of it like a sturdy lasagne.

Serves 4
Hands-on time 35 min, simmering time 20 min, oven time 15-20 min

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Ingredients

Olive oil to shallow fry
2 aubergines, cut into 1cm chunks
4 garlic cloves, finely sliced
Bunch basil, leaves and stalks separated, stalks finely chopped
2 tbsp tomato purée
500g passata
1 tsp red wine vinegar
500g tubular pasta (see Know-how)
125g mozzarella ball, drained and chopped into small cubes
25g pecorino, ricotta salata or veggie alternative, finely grated

Method

Fill a high-sided casserole or ovenproof frying pan with enough oil to cover the bottom – about 0.5cm deep. Put over a high heat and, once shimmering hot, fry the aubergines in 2-3 batches until soft and light golden all over (4-6 minutes). Drain on kitchen paper and sprinkle with salt.
Pour out all but 2 tbsp of the olive oil (this can be used in another dish). Put over a medium heat and fry the garlic and basil stalks for a minute until fragrant, then add the tomato purée and cook for another minute. Pour in the passata, swish out the jar/packet with around 150ml water and add that too, season with salt and pepper, then bring back to a simmer. Add the vinegar and cooked aubergines, then leave to gently simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. It should be thick and jammy – if the sauce starts catching, add a splash of water. Taste for seasoning.
Heat the oven to 220°C fan/gas 9 and bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Add the pasta and cook for 3 minutes less than it states on the package, then drain and mix into the sauce, adding a splash of pasta water, the mozzarella and three quarters of the basil leaves. Stir vigorously until all the pasta is thickly coated in the sauce, then compress the mixture down a little to smooth the top. Sprinkle with the pecorino.
Bake for 15-20 minutes until bubbling and some of the pasta on top is crisping up. Tear over the remaining basil leaves, leave to rest for 5-10 minutes, then serve by cutting thick slices with a serrated knife.

Recipe from July 2024 Issue

Nutrition

Nutrition: per serving

Calories: 711kcals
Fat: 20g (7.2g saturated)
Protein: 26g
Carbohydrates: 98g (13g sugars)
Fibre: 9.5g
Salt: 0.6g

delicious. tips

You can prepare the sauce up to 3 days in advance and keep it in the fridge – just warm it through before stirring the cheese and pasta into it.
I’ve used the more easily available rigatoni here, but if you can get your hands on anelli (available from Ocado and Italian delis) – essentially spaghetti hoops without the sauce – it creates a much denser, firmer dish. Ricotta salata is also the ideal cheese to grate on top, but it’s quite expensive – although it is available from Ocado and Italian delis too.

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Norma al forno

Ingredients

Method

Nutrition

delicious. tips

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