Today I was in Sorrento to spend some time with my beloved family. For our Sunday’s lunch my brother Francesco, philosopher, apprentice gardener and cook 😉 prepared some delicious gluten free pasta so called “alla Siciliana”.
Cut the eggplant in small cubes and put it in a colander with some salt for three hours. This will make the eggplant lose part of its water.
Squeeze the small cubes gently with your hands so that the water will get out easily.
Take a large pan, put two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, add the eggplant in small cubes and start stirring over medium heat.
Once they turn golden brown, turn off the heat and put the eggplant into a bowl.
In the same pan, add 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, one clove of garlic cut in two halves and start stirring over low heat.
When the garlic turns gold, add the tomato sauce and turn the heat to medium.
Let the sauce cook until it reduces its volume by losing some water.
Add the eggplant cubes and stir gently for a couple of minutes.
Turn the heat off. Add some fresh basil and oregano.
At the same time, let’s start cooking the pasta.
For this recipe I chose gluten free penne rigate, some of my favorite pasta.
Take a large pot, add water. When the water starts to boil, add a pinch of salt and then the pasta.
As a personal advice, don’t trust the minutes written on the package, it is very rare that they correspond to how you like the pasta (al dente or not). I would suggest to do it as I do, start tasting it after the first 3/4 minutes… it helps :-).
Once the pasta is ready, drip it and put it in the pan along with the sauce and the eggplant. Put the pan back over medium high heat for 2 minutes. Stir gently.
Turn the heat off, put the pasta in a dish, add the grated caciotta cheese (parmigiano reggiano is perfect as well), more fresh basil if you like it as much as I do, and 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil per person.
Buon Appetito!
