Your new favorite pasta recipe is here. Pasta Alla Norma is the perfect meal to make whether you have fresh eggplant and herbs coming from the garden in the summer or you have dried herbs and store-bought eggplant to use. It's a great year-round dish.
Shake Up Pasta Night
Who doesn't love a big plate of pasta? If your family is like us, you probably eat pasta on a pretty regular basis. And if you're even more like us, you might find yourself heading to the same few recipes: tried and true spaghetti sauce, pesto noodles, etc.
I totally get it; it can be so hard to get creative when life is busy.
But if you're looking to break the mold and try a new pasta dish (or if you're looking for another idea for your meal rotation), pasta alla norma is a scrumptious option to try tonight.
This budget-friendly dinner has meat, veggies, and a carb to satisfy hungry tummies. Eggplant, pork, spinach, and tomato on top of pasta make a healthy dinner your whole family is sure to love.
Grab your favorite noodles and get cooking!
Gluten-Free Options
Pasta is a great choice whether your whole family or just one member is avoiding gluten. I typically end up with some type of chickpea noodle, but I decided to try red lentil spaghetti noodles this time. My husband just got normal spaghetti noodles. Both options were delicious!
Thankfully, I'm not someone who has to worry about cross-contamination with gluten. But if someone in your family has Celiac or a more serious intolerance/allergy, consider sticking with gluten-free options for the whole family, or be sure to use separate utensils, strainers, etc. for your gluten-full and gluten-free noodles.
Make it a Budget-Friendly Meal
- Meat - Substitute any ground meat, or buy ground pork when it's on sale and freeze it until you need it. 1 lb packages of meat thaw pretty quickly!
- White Wine/Cooking Wine - Skip it or add tiny amounts of white vinegar, lemon juice, or whatever you have on hand to your sauce to add acidity.
- Chicken Stock - Use any broth or stock you have on hand or use water with some extra salt and spices for flavor
- Herbs - If you don't have rosemary, thyme, oregano, and basil on hand already, just buy Italian Herb seasoning. You'll have it all covered with just one new seasoning on your spice rack.
Servings
This recipe topped 6 servings of noodles for us, but we tend to go heavy on the sauce. This could easily make 8 servings (if not more) depending on your preferences.
Stay riled up and keep the joy in cooking <3
Pasta Alla Norma with Ground Pork
Ingredients
- 6-8 servings of noodles
- 2 eggplant (chopped in roughly 1" cubes)
- 1 lb ground pork
- 28 oz can of tomato puree
- Spinach (a few handfuls)
- Chicken stock
- White wine/cooking wine (optional)
- Olive Oil
- Dried, minced onion
- Dried, minced garlic
- Garlic powder
- Red Pepper Flakes
- Rosemary
- Thyme
- Oregano
- Basil
- Salt
- Black Pepper
- Parsley (optional topping)
- Parmesan (optional topping)
Directions
- Put the eggplant in a bowl and toss with 2 Tbsp of olive oil before transferring to a baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper, and roast the eggplant at 450 F for 20 minutes. Flip them and roast for 5 more minutes. Once finished, let it cool on the tray.
- Heat 1-2 Tbsp olive oil (enough to cover the bottom) over medium heat in a pot or dutch oven. Once the oil is hot, add minced onion and garlic, red pepper flakes, and black pepper. Allow the spices to brown in the oil. (Visual cue - link to reel)
- Add the pork to the spices, breaking it into walnut-sized pieces with your hand as you do. Add a little salt to start, and brown the pork leaving the chunks of meat intact.
- Once the pork is cooked, add the tomato puree, some chicken stock, and a splash of white wine. Add a little bit of thyme, rosemary, and oregano and a lot of basil. Season with garlic powder, red pepper flakes, and black pepper to taste. Don't adjust the salt level until the end.
- Simmer the sauce for at least 20 minutes. If it starts to become too thick, add more stock.
- Boil your chosen noodles in water that is salty like the sea. Once the noodles are done cooking, drain them and set them aside.
- Add a few handfuls of spinach to the sauce, and mix until the spinach is wilted.
- Taste the sauce, and adjust the salt and other seasonings to your liking.
- Plate your noodles and top with sauce and eggplant. Add parsley and parmesan cheese on top if desired.
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