Escalivada (Grilled Vegetables) vs Pasta alla Norma

Both dishes lean on eggplant, tomato, garlic and olive oil, yet they handle them in very different ways. Escalivada roasts or grills whole vegetables until the skins char and blister, then peels them into tender strips dressed with thinly sliced raw garlic and a generous pour of olive oil, left to rest and served at room temperature. Pasta alla Norma instead salts and fries eggplant slices until golden, folds them into a simmered tomato sauce with briefly sautéed garlic and basil, and tosses it hot with al dente rigatoni under salty, tangy shavings of ricotta salata.