Pasta Alla Norma
2 small eggplants cut into round slices
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
500g tomato and basil sauce
350g spaghetti boiled in hot salted water
100g dry anari or parmesan
1 teaspoon hot or sweet pepper flakes
Freshly ground pepper
8 large basil leaves, finely chopped
Oil for frying
For the pasta
Prepare the pasta just before finishing the process with the ingredients.
In 3.5l of water add 2 tablespoons salt and let the water boil.
Once it boils, pour in the pasta and mix well. Cook according to packet instructions until al dente.
Once the pasta is ready, place it in the colander to drain.
Pour the pasta into a large bowl and prepare the tomato sauce and eggplants.
For the sauce
The materials are simple, but they should all be prepared in front of you.
Cut the eggplants into 0.5 cm slices and place them in a baking pan. Sprinkle with salt and leave for 30 minutes, to release their liquids. Then rinse with plenty of water and leave in a colander to drain. Finally, dry them with a paper towel by pressing their surface gently.
Fry the eggplants: in a pan add vegetable oil and fry the eggplants on both sides until golden. Place on paper towels to draw out excess oil.
Finely chop the garlic. In a large frying pan fry the garlic in a tablespoon of olive oil.
Pour the tomato sauce into the pan and mix. Once the sauce boils, turn off the heat.
Finally, in the large bowl where you placed the pasta, add the tomato sauce and mix well.
Place pasta and eggplants alternately on the plate.
Sprinkle with black pepper, grated cheese, chili flakes and basil.
Calzone, Eggplant Sauce and Red Peppers
1 round dough with a diameter of 25cm
4 tablespoons ready tomato sauce with eggplant
80g melting yellow cheese (including emmental)
1 small red pepper cut into strips
1 1/2 tsp sweet chili flakes
Preheat the oven along with a large flat baking pan for 10 minutes before starting to roll out the dough, at 220C. If you do not have a flat baking dish, turn a deep baking pan upside down.
At the same time, cut a piece of parchment paper.
Open the dough with your hands in a circle 25cm in diameter and place on parchment paper.
Place the grated cheese in half of the pizza on top of the tomato sauce.
With quick movements, place 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce on top of half of the pizza (because you will close it in a crescent moon). Leave one to two fingers without sauce around.
Next, place tomato sauce on top of the cheese, pepper, chili flakes and 2 tablespoons of the tomato sauce.
With the help of parchment paper, close the dough like a crescent moon and also close around carefully to keep the filling inside.
After preparing the calzone, carefully remove the hot flat pan from the oven and place it on an ovenproof worktop.
Place the parchment paper with the calzone on the baking pan.
Bake 14 minutes in air depending on your oven. The point is to have a baked pinkish dough.
Recipes provided by the Lidl food academy. Stasikratous 34, Nicosia 1010. https://www.lidlfoodacademy.com.cy/
