penne alla norma

This is Penne Alla Norma, a veggie-lovers pasta delight! The main ingredients include eggplant, plum tomatoes and basil. It's actually very similar to Whole-Wheat Pasta with Roasted Eggplant and Tomatoes from the first Everyday Food book. I blogged about it a couple years ago.

Well this is a MAJOR improvement in comparison to the older recipe. It's easier to make and way more delicious. I'd rank this as one of the best recipes in the book. All the flavours blend so nicely and the addition of hot pepper flakes are a real bonus.

The one revision that anyone who makes this dish should consider is when to add the garlic. The book indicates to add it in the first step when cooking the onions. The garlic could so easily burn and become bitter if you were to add it then. I held back and added it along with the tomatoes and it prevented any disasters that way.