Oven-baked savory pasta

By Giovanna Bianco 9 Febbraio 2015

Ingredients

400 gr short cut pasta (rigatoni, penne) ; for the meat gravy: ;700 gr veal roast ; 5 qt tomatoe puree passata di pomodoro ; olive oil ; onion ; garlic ; salt ; basil ; for the filling ;2 hard-boiled eggs ;200 g soppressata (supersata salami) ; 200 g provola cheese ; 100 g grated Parmesan cheese ; for the small meatballs ;200 gr ground meat ;1 day old roll ; grated Parmesan cheese ; salt ; parsley ; oil for frying

Instructions

Oven-baked savory pasta

Per la ricetta originale, in italiano la Pasta china (pasta ripiena al forno), cliccare qui.

This oven- baked pasta filled with various ingredients is the typical Calabrese dish of Sundays and holidays. It could be considered a main course since it is quite rich. Its filling includes, in fact, small fried meatballs, hard-boiled eggs, supersata salami or cured sausage, and provola cheese; as well as an excellent meat gravy, pieces of veal or other meats sautéed and cooked in tomato puree. This dish is a generous first course which is extremely savory and always enjoyed greatly. I prepared it yesterday

Oven-baked savory pasta

Prepare the gravy, sauté the chopped onion in a saucepan then add the meat. Once cooked, add the tomato puree, season with salt and cook on low heat for approximately 10 minutes. Add the fresh basil.

Prepare the meatballs. Soak the bread roll in some water, then squeeze it to remove the excess water and set it aside. In a bowl, mix the ground meat with the bread roll, the chopped parsley, the grated cheese, some salt and the egg. Shape the mixture into small meatballs. Fry the meatballs in a generous amount of frying oil, drain them on paper towels.

Prepare the eggs by placing them in a small saucepan with cold water and cook for 10 minutes from the moment the water begins to boil. Cool the eggs, peel them and set them aside.

Cook the pasta. I used rigatoni. Drain the pasta and add a generous amount of gravy and grated cheese. Coat the bottom of an oven dish with some gravy and add half of the cooked pasta, add the meatballs, the provola cheese, the supersata and the hard-boiled eggs cut into cubes.