Pasta alla Norma

Pasta alla Norma, also called pasta con le melanzane, is a pasta dish made from eggplant. It is typical of Sicilian cuisine, from Catania in particular.
It is made of penne or other pasta with tomato sauce, covered with slices of fried eggplant and served with grated Ricotta#Aged variants cheese and often basil.
It was named in honor of a native of Catania, Vincenzo Bellini, the composer of the opera Norma. It is said that the Italian writer Nino Martoglio exclaimed "This is a real 'Norma'!", meaning a masterpiece, when he tasted the dish, although the name is not attested until decades after his death.
Pasta alla Norma was named "dish of the year" by the Tourism Award in 2018.