Caterina's lasagne are tagliatelle ribbons which she dresses with a fresh tomato and eggplant sauce, using vegetables from her garden. This is an excellent summer pasta dish from Sicily! I suspect the good housewives of Sicily were making this dish long before an enterprising chef gave it the name 'pasta alla Norma'. And as stated in the voiceover, lasagne is a generic word used to describe flat sheets and shapes of pasta. Caterina uses 'lasagne' and 'tagliatelle' to describe her pasta in this session. Both are correct.
Ingredients:
2 medium eggplant/aubergines, sliced lengthways and halved
1 onion, sliced
1 garlic clove, sliced
4 large flavoursome tomatoes
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil for the sauce, plus more for frying the eggplant (or use a neutral vegetable oil for frying them)
plenty of fresh basil leaves (around 25g)
100g grated ricotta salata
For the pasta, halve the quantities Caterina uses (unless you are hosting a party).
250g semolina flour (semola rimacinata)
2 eggs and a tablespoon or two of water (it depends on the size of your eggs). Alternatively, omit the eggs and use 125g water
