Pasta alla Norma (), earlier called ''pasta con le melanzane'' 'pasta with eggplant', Touring Club Italiano, ''Vie d'Italia e del mondo'', 1928?
p. 750
/ref>Gioacchino Balducci, ''Italia moderna'', 1973, , p. 109 is an Italian dish of pasta and

eggplant Eggplant ( US, Canada), aubergine ( UK, Ireland) or brinjal (Indian subcontinent, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa) is a plant species in the nightshade family Solanaceae. ''Solanum melongena'' is grown worldwide for its edible fruit. Mos ...

. It is typical of

Sicilian cuisine Sicilian cuisine is the style of cooking on the island of Sicily. It shows traces of all cultures that have existed on the island of Sicily over the last two millennia. Although its cuisine has much in common with Italian cuisine, Sicilian food a ...

, from

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...

in particular. It is made of spaghetti or other pasta with tomato sauce, covered with slices of fried

and served with grated ricotta salata cheese and often basil. It was named in honor of the native of

Vincenzo Bellini, the composer of the opera '' Norma''.Massimo Alberini, Giorgio Mistretta, ''Guida all'Italia gastronomica'', Touring Club Italiano, 1984, p. 337 It is said that the Italian writer

Nino Martoglio Nino Martoglio (Belpasso, Paternò, 3 December 1870 — Catania, 15 September 1921) was an Italy, Italian writer, publisher, journalist and producer of theatrical works. He wrote mostly in Sicilian language, Sicilian and likewise, his theatrical w ...

exclaimed "This is a real 'Norma'!", meaning a masterpiece, when he tasted the dish, though the name is not attested until decades after his death.Google Books search
/ref> Pasta alla Norma was named "dish of the year" by the Tourism Award in 2018."Ricetta pasta alla norma, la 'siciliana' più amata dagli italiani", ''Messina Today''

/ref>

References

{{Cuisine of Italy Cuisine of Sicily Pasta dishes Eggplant dishes Catania

See also

References