Sunday Tomato Sauce with Eggplant and Italian Peppers
Sunday Tomato Sauce with Eggplant and Italian Peppers (or “Not your Nonna’s Norma” as I like to call it) was inspired by a recent trip to the Farmer’s Market. The Jimmy Nardello + Gypsy peppers and eggplants were looking G O R G and it was one of the last weeks to get Early Girl tomatoes. I thought what better than to make a Sunday sauce with all of the ingredients!
The only “hard” part about this sauce is prepping all of the veggies but once that’s out of the way, it’s all smooth sailing, in the words of Leon Bridges. I cook this sauce in layers - starting with the onions and garlic, then moving to the peppers, eggplant and finally the tomatoes. This helps to achieve a luscious, flavor-packed sauce that you will seriously want to always have on hand. A traditional Pasta Alla Norma sauce doesn’t have peppers in it, but I just love them here! They add such a nice depth of flavor and slight sweetness that works so well in the sauce.
Since I’m usually only cooking for 1-2 people, I like to keep a quart of this in the fridge and portion it out with pasta for lunches/dinners throughout the week. Pro tip — it’s also amazing with an egg nestled in the center and baked to perfection…thank me later!
I have a few notes about substitutions at the bottom of the recipe in case you’re unable to find some of the ingredients. Happy cooking!
INGREDIENTS
2 medium eggplants, diced into 1/2 inch cubes
Kosher salt
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large yellow onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
5 gypsy peppers, diced into 1/2 inch pieces*
6 large Jimmy Nardello peppers, diced into 1/2 inch pieces*
2 lbs tomatoes*
6 sprigs fresh oregano
1 Tbsp capers
1-2 tsp red pepper flakes (depending on how much spice you like)
Fresh Basil
Ricotta salata
METHOD
Lay out the cubed eggplant on a large sheet tray. Sprinkle with Kosher salt and toss to disperse the salt. Allow to sit for 15 minutes to release the excess moisture from the eggplant. After 15 mins, pat the eggplant dry and set aside.
In a dutch oven or large non-reactive pot, add the olive oil, sliced onion, garlic cloves, and a big pinch of salt. Allow the onion mixture to cook over medium-low heat for 5-7 minutes, until the onions have begun to soften but not brown.
Add the diced peppers to the onion mixture and allow the entire thing to cook for an additional 8-10 minutes, until the peppers have softened up nicely. It will take a little while since you have a good amount of veggies in the pot.
While the peppers are cooking down, let’s remove the skin from the tomatoes. (*If you’re using canned whole tomatoes, you can skip this entire step!). Use a knife to cut a shallow “X” on the bottom of the tomatoes and drop them into a large pot of boiling water. Allow the tomatoes to cook for 2-3 mins until you see the skin begin to loosen up. Remove the tomatoes from the pot and transfer to a ice bath to cool + stop the cooking process. Using a paring knife or your fingers, peel off the skin from the tomatoes. Set the tomatoes aside for now.
Add the eggplant to the cooked down peppers and onions and sauté for 5 minutes until the eggplant has begun to soften. Add the whole peeled tomatoes and use the back of your spoon to break them up (they will continue to break down as the sauce cooks).
Stir in the oregano sprigs, capers and red pepper flakes. Allow the sauce to simmer gently over low heat, uncovered, for 1.5 - 2 hours, or until the sauce is rich, reduced and the vegetables are melt-in-your-mouth tender. Taste the sauce and add salt, to your preference.
Toss with cooked pasta of your choice — I prefer short tubular pasta for this sauce such as pipe rigate (pictured) rigatoni — and top with shaved ricotta salata + fresh basil leaves. Enjoy!
NOTES
Substitutions:
If you can’t find Gypsy and Jimmy Nardello peppers, you can sub them out for 3 large red bell peppers
If you don’t have fresh tomatoes on hand, you can instead use 1 28 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes. This will forever be my favorite brand of canned tomatoes!
