Chef Philip Guardione is a true ambassador of Sicilian food in New York. The menus for his La Piccola Cucina restaurants feature many regional dishes, from seafood pasta and arancini, to traditional Sicilian cannoli. And while some of his recipes might seem unfamiliar to the American palate, New Yorkers are always happy to experiment with new cuisine – so it wasn’t long before they were feasting on pasta with sea urchins, fritto misto and even Sicilian cassata, a sponge cake moistened with fruit juice and liqueur, layered with ricotta cheese, and covered with marzipan and candied fruit.
But as all Sicilians know, Pasta alla Norma is a must-have on any traditional menu of the cuisine. That’s why Guardione serves it in all his New York restaurants, including the latest location on the Upper East Side, with La Piccola Cucina outposts also in Red Lodge, Montana, and the chic Spanish island of Ibiza.
For Guardione, the simple taste of pasta alla norma brings back memories of his childhood, growing up in the shade of Mount Etna. “Pasta alla norma was our family’s binding agent on Sundays,” he remembers. “I have many related childhood memories, like when my grandma was in the kitchen and the smell of her tomato sauce with eggplant would welcome you in the minute you opened the front door.”
He mostly uses maccheroni, a dry pasta shaped like narrow tubes, topped with fried eggplant, tomato sauce and ricotta salata cheese. Other times, he serves it as eggplant-stuffed ravioli. The most challenging part of the dish? Choosing and preparing the eggplant, a vegetable that might seem intimidating to many.
“The right eggplant to make maccheroni alla norma has to be of medium size, purple in color and not too soft nor too hard – and preferably without seeds,” he explains. “If it’s eggplant season (July to October), you don’t need to add any salt, you just peel it and then cut it into small cubes. If the eggplant is not in season, you always need to peel it, since the skin of the eggplant makes it more bitter. Just add salt and let it rest for about 10 minutes.”
In order to keep the eggplant light in taste, Guardione also prefers frying it in peanut oil.
For the sauce and the pasta, everything is homemade: “I use the Pachino tomatoes (Italian cherry tomatoes from Sicily) and I add some garlic, basil, salt, pepper and oil,” he explains. “Just like the sauce, even the pasta is ‘homemade’. We prepare it at the restaurant, using the same techniques that were passed onto me from my grandma. It’s a blast from the past every time.”
To top it all off, he grates ricotta salata over the top of the dish – a Sicilian salted ricotta cheese made with sheep’s whey that features a creamy, mild nutty flavor.