Anelletti al Forno

Ring pasta baked in a crumbed tin so it turns out as a single browned dome.

Beef. Not vegetarian — contains beef, provolone whose rennet the source does not name.

Ingredients

• 500 g anelletti, or any small ring pasta
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 400 g beef mince
• 150 ml red wine
• 700 g passata
• 150 g frozen peas
• 200 g caciocavallo or provolone, diced
• 60 g breadcrumbs
• 1 teaspoon salt

Method

1. Fry the onion in 2 tablespoons of the oil for 8 minutes, add the mince and brown it well, then pour in the wine and let it boil away.
2. Add the passata and the salt and simmer 45 minutes until thick. Stir the peas in for the last 5.
3. Boil the anelletti for HALF the time on the packet. They finish in the oven, and pasta boiled through first comes out of the tin as paste.
4. Mix the drained pasta with the sauce and the diced cheese.
5. Oil a deep cake tin and coat it all over with breadcrumbs, sides included. THE CRUMBS ARE THE POINT OF THE TIN: they give the crust that lets the whole thing turn out as a dome rather than being spooned out of a dish.
6. Press the mixture in firmly and level the top, then scatter the last of the crumbs and the remaining oil over.
7. Bake at 190C for 40 minutes until the top is deep brown.
8. Rest it 15 minutes before running a knife round and turning it out. Turned out hot it collapses.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes