Eggplant and Ricotta Sauce ~Sicilian Style (Pomodori e Vino)

About Beth

Beth, along with her husband, Mike, is co-owner of two Italian Deli/Markets in St. Louis - Viviano’s Festa Italiano. When not creating yummy new menu items for the deli, she’s the pediatric research lab supervisor at Washington University School of Medicine. Read more out about Viviano’s Festa Italiano.

About Irene

Irene loves to think, read and dream about food. She enjoys cooking & eating in general. Although she demures about her talents, Irene has a finely-tuned palate that her friends envy. She bakes on occasion. The rest of the time she's creating memories with her family and friends. . . or she's learning a new needlecraft technique.

About Deborah

Deborah is a wife, mother, grandmother, traveler, bootlegger, and a very poor speller! As Victor Hazan so eloquently puts it, Deborah has chosen Umbria to be the home of her soul. When she can’t be there in body, she spends her free time cooking & reading about Italy. She blogs mostly about food and about trips – past and future – here: Old Shoes New Trip.

About Doug

Doug lives in Eastern Ontario in a farmhouse built in 1903. He is a retired teacher with four adult children, a wife, a son-in-law, two Irish step-grandchildren and one grandson who he is lucky to hang with a lot. He has way too many books. Doug also blogs at To Slow Time Down.

About Cindy

Cindy lives in Eagle River, Alaska where her freezer is always full of salmon, halibut & shrimp. Cindy participates in several regular cooking challenges. You can read more about her cooking and life in the last frontier on her blog, Baked Alaska.

About Sandi

Sandi is a true Southerner, but a traveler & Italian cook at heart. She lives in Alabama and knows more about fried green tomatoes than fricassees. Her family owned the WhistleStop Café for many years. Sandi also blogs at Whistlestop Cafe Cooking.

About Jan

Jan, a serious home cook, has owned “Essentials” since 1992. She is passionate about all things Italian, especially the cuisine & the language. Jan blogs about her travels (next trip Italy May/June of 2010) at: Keep your Feet in the Street.

About Jerry

Jerry is a food obsessed Canadian. He learned to love Italian food as a child while eating the meals prepared by his Napolitano uncle. He learned to cook Italian foods by watching his uncle cook these feasts for the family. This love of Italian food has been honed through serious personal experimentation in eating and cooking. Willing to try most anything once, Jerry isn't so sure about tripe! Jerry also blogs at Jerry's Thoughts, Musings, and Rants!

About Palma

Palma is a Marriage & Family Therapist in Palm Desert, CA. She’s an Italian-American with a passion for cooking, entertaining, & travel to Italy. She’s always planning her next culinary adventure to Italia on her blog, Palmabella's Passions

About Kim

Kim is our permanent sub and the image above gives you a good idea of the look on her face when she realized she was drafted. Kim loves to eat, drink, travel and cook - probably in that order. When she's not here, you can find her organizing and leading food, wine and beer tours in Europe as co-owner and operator of GrapeHops or blogging at What I Really Think.

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Eggplant and Ricotta Sauce ~Sicilian Style

Ricotta and Eggplant Sauce~ Sicilian Style This recipe, like all the others in 'The Essentials of Italian Cooking', takes simple ingredients and layers them into a mouthful of flavors. Marcella says she likes using cartwheel pasta 'route di carro'~ it is the perfect way to carry the flavors. (you know 'carry' as in "I'm going to carry y'all to the store")

She suggests you use the fresh young eggplant. Dice the eggplant. Place the cubes in a colander and sprinkle liberally with salt. This will draw off the bitter juices. After an hour rinse and squeeze out the excess moisture.

The eggplant is fried until tender and drained. It is then then combined with onion, garlic, and tomatoes that have been sautéd.

Combine all this with the freshly cooked pasta. Ricotta and parmigiano-reggiano are stirred in to add another layer of flavor.
Serve at once~ Mangia tutto!
Simple, with lots of flavor. Another winner!

Ciao y'all,
Sandi

Posted to 5. Friday - Sandi/Jan | Pasta by Sandi on May 28, 2010 8:01 AM
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Comments (5)

nancyhol:

Another winner indeed! My to-do list is getting very long!

Good job Sandi!

Posted by nancyhol | May 28, 2010 10:05 AM

Posted on May 28, 2010 10:05

Irene:

Looks beautiful and tasty!

Posted by Irene | May 28, 2010 10:43 PM

Posted on May 28, 2010 22:43

Deborah:

Sandi, a beautiful picture! I've actually never used cartwheel pasta. Will have to remedy that some day.
And yes, as a child of the Ozarks, I also know the expression "carry you". (grin)

Posted by Deborah | May 29, 2010 7:51 AM

Posted on May 29, 2010 07:51

Susie L:

This looks beautiful Sandi. It looks like Summer in a bowl!

Posted by Susie L | May 29, 2010 11:01 AM

Posted on May 29, 2010 11:01

Marcella Hazan:

Thank you, Sandi. I am so pleased to see these dishes come through in your hands as in those of your teammates. You are a fabulous group.

Posted by Marcella Hazan | May 29, 2010 10:26 PM

Posted on May 29, 2010 22:26