Food & Drink

Pasta al Forno – Neapolitan baked pasta

Served with: Douro Valley red wine
Cooked by: Katie Caldesi

Serves 6

Ingredients:
Tomato sugo
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
75ml olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
3 x 400g tins of plum tomatoes
1 sprig of basil

Meatballs
250g minced pork
250g minced beef
75g salami, diced, optional
250g fresh white breadcrumbs
2 medium eggs
5 tablespoons of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Salt to taste

Pasta al forno
100g Parma Ham
Lasagne sheets
50g Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, finely grated
250g Mozzarella, roughly torn into bite-size pieces
50ml olive oil (25ml for frying, 25ml for tossing with the pasta)

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 180^oC. Make the tomato sauce by frying the onions, garlic, pepper and salt in the olive oil and when soft add the tinned tomatoes and basil. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 30 to 40 minutes. Stir frequently breaking up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon.

Mix all the ingredients for the meatballs together in a bowl. Roll into marble sized balls (wet hands may help).

Fry the meatballs and Parma Ham in olive oil lightly and drain them on kitchen paper.

Lightly boil the lasagne sheets for a couple of minutes until soft, drain and let cool tossed with a little olive oil. Mix together the cheeses. Lay the sheets out and pour tomato sauce over the top.

In a large lasagne dish, put a layer of lasagne sheets out and cover in some of the tomato sauce. Scatter over some of the meatballs, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, Parma Ham and mozzarella. Build the lasagne al forno in layers until it fills the dish finishing with a layer of tomato sauce and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Bake for about an hour or until golden brown and bubbling.

Serve with mixed, dressed salad leaves.

For more information go to http://www.discovertheorigin.co.uk/