Pasta al Forno

Short pasta baked in an open dish for the crust on top, with no besciamella.

Not vegetarian — contains meat the source does not name, mozzarella whose rennet the source does not name, parmesan whose rennet the source does not name.

Ingredients

• 600 g rigatoni or penne
• 1.2 litres meat ragù
• 400 g mozzarella, diced and drained overnight
• 150 g parmesan, grated
• 3 hard-boiled eggs, sliced, optional
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons salt

Method

1. NO BESCIAMELLA, NO PASTRY, NO MOULD AND NO PASTA SHEETS. That is four things this dish is not, and what is left is short pasta, ragù and cheese in an open dish — the plainest of the baked pastas and the one most households actually make.
2. Drain the diced mozzarella overnight. In an open bake its water has nowhere to go but into the pasta.
3. BOIL THE PASTA TO HALF ITS PACKET TIME, no more. It will take up sauce in the oven for forty minutes and finish there; cooked properly first it comes out as paste.
4. Mix it with three quarters of the ragù and all but a handful of the parmesan, then fold in the mozzarella and the egg slices if using.
5. Tip into an oiled dish and spread the remaining ragù over the top, then the last of the parmesan.
6. BAKE UNCOVERED AT 200C FOR 40 MINUTES. Uncovered and hot, because the crust is the point: a browned, slightly dry top with the pieces of pasta standing up in it, which is the part people fight over.
7. Rest it 20 minutes before cutting, or it will not hold a square.

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