Eight hundred years before the birth of Christ, the Italians started making wine – actually the Greeks started making wine when they colonized Sicily so, strictly speaking, it was the Greeks (who didn’t introduce grapes since the Phoenicians had seen to that) – but since they were in Italy, I consider them Italian. (The Greeks were taught to make wine (via Crete) by the Egyptians who learnt about grapes from the Phoenicians in the near East). As a matter of fact, Sicily became the most important wine growing area the Greeks had at the time but when Vesuvius made itself heard in AD 79 all that came to a sudden halt.

After that wine growing moved northwards, by which time the Greeks had long left the scene.  As a matter of fact, wine growing moved so far north that it reached areas like the world famous Mosel – wine growing in France, Germany and Switzerland was all started by the Romans, which means the Italians should take the honours for planting the ‘seed’ in Europe.  Sadly, when the Roman Empire fell around 400 years after the birth of Christ, viticulture went downt the drain too and it was only during the Renaissance that the wine merchants of Tuscany and Northern Italy (inspired by the Frescobaldi family, amongst others) were sufficiently inspired to rekindle the process. There were the Arabs in Sicily of course, who, notwithstanding the ban on alcohol by the Qran and ever tolerant of the people living in the countries they occupied, taught the Sicilians how to distill. After that it was the Church that carried on the tradition – probably because they owned all land worth having and were rich enough to to so, but the demand created was certainly thanks to the wine merchants of Tuscany. Below, and image of the winelands in Tuscany as they are today. The wine industry in Tuscany is still very ably dominated by the Frescobaldi family.

The Roman god of wine was Bacchus and the feasts in his honour were called bacchanalia and continued until the 7^th century when Christianity became the official religion. Frankly, I think Christianity arrived just in time because the bacchanalia feasts were so raucous that they became dangerous and something had to be done to stop it!  I was tapped over the fingers for not having recipes with the History of wine in South Africa, and I’ll change my ways and do one here – this recipe makes use of aubergines (also known as eggplants), tomatoes, basil and salted ricotta.  Aubergines originated in China and India and was introduced to the Italians by the Arabs when they invaded Italy in 1200 AD. This particular dish is called Pasta alla Norma in Catania and was a favourite of Vincenzo Bellini, the composer of the opera, Norma after who the pasta is named.

PASTA ALLA NORMA

Ingredients

• 500 g Rigatoni (or what have you)
• 2 aubergines, cubed
• 200 g shaved salted ricotta (use smoked if you can’t get the salted)
• 16  large basil leaves
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 6 plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded and finely chopped – we’re looking for a pulp here
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste
• Extra virgin olive oil

Method

• Clean the aubergines and cut in half, lengthways, cutting them in 2 cm cubes.
• Put the cubes in a colander, sprinkle with salt and set aside until they have released their moisture.
• In a large, heavy bottomed saucepan or a wok (a wok works so well in these recipes) heat some olive oil and the aubergine and sauté until light golden brown – it should take about 10 to 15 minutes.
• Add the basil (rip the leaves for better effect), the bay leaves, salt and pepper and mix into the aubergines.
• Add the tomatoes, turn the heat down and cook for about 5 minutes.
• Cook the rigatoni in plenty of salted water until al dente and then drain well and add to the wok with the sauce, adding a tablespoon or two of olive oil and tossing it over a high flame to heat everything through well – about 30 – 40 seconds.
• Serve on individual plates with a basil leaf and the cheese shavings.
• I love, absolutely love, a good Chianti with this!