Pasta al forno (baked pasta the Italian way)
This recipe is based on my Sicilian mother-in-law's version of pasta al forno. It's rich and tasty and perfect for when you have a large number to feed!
- Prep time
- 30 min
- Cook time
- 1 hr 30 min
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 500 g minced beef and pork mix or veal
- 1/2 glass white wine
- 100 g peas
- 1 carrot
- 1 celery stalk
- 1 medium sized onion
- 1-2 garlic cloves ((optional) garlic isn't always used in ragu. But you can add it if you like it.)
- extra virgin olive oil
- 1 handful basil leaves or parsley (chopped)
- 2 tbsp tomato concentrate
- 500 ml tomato pulp or passata
- salt and pepper to taste
- 400 g tortiglioni (or other pasta tubes (better ridged like rigatoni))
- 300 g caciocavallo or mozzarella (cut into pieces)
- 50 g parmesan
Instructions
- 1
Chop the carrot, onion, garlic and celery finely.
- 2
Fry the vegetables in olive oil until they are softening. Be careful not to allow them to burn!
- 3
Add the minced meat and cook until browned.
- 4
Then add the tomato concentrate and stir well
- 5
Add the glass of wine and stir well again
- 6
When the wine has evaporated pour in the tomato pulp and mix it in well with the meat.
- 7
Add the basil leaves and salt and pepper as required.
- 8
Cover the sauce and allow to simmer on a low heat for at least an hour, stirring occasionally so it doesn't stick. If it gets too thick add some water.
- 9
15 minutes before the sauce is ready add the peas.
- 10
Put salted water on to boil for the pasta. Cook the pasta 2-3 minutes less than instructed on the packet. Strain and add the pasta to the meat sauce when it is ready.
- 11
Mix the pasta and sauce well and allow to cool.
- 12
Put a layer of pasta with sauce on the bottom of an oven dish.
- 13
Make another layer with thick pieces of mozzarella.
- 14
Add another layer of pasta with meat sauce and again some mozzarella
- 15
Finish with a layer of pasta.
- 16
Sprinkle with parmesan and bake in a pre-heated oven 180-200° until the top layer starts to crisp (30-40 mins)