Sicilian baked pasta is a rich and flavorful main course suitable for Sunday lunches, holidays, and picnics.
It is easy to prepare and becomes increasingly delicious as the hours pass.
Made with tasty ingredients, it appeals to both adults and children: the pasta is seasoned with a good ragù with peas, then cheese, eggs, ham, and fried eggplants enrich the dish even more.
I have always remembered this baked pasta as the star of festive lunches with aunts and cousins.
When it was prepared, the mix of aromas that filled the house spread a sense of cheerful anticipation, enhancing the joy of gathering and spending hours playing with cousins as lunchtime approached.
Indeed, cooking for loved ones is a gift of love, bestowing memories and aromas to cherish for a lifetime, along with the desire to recreate them firsthand when, alas, those who made them for us are no longer around.
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- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Cheap
- Preparation time: 40 Minutes
- Portions: 10
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 689.49 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 38.11 (g) of which sugars 6.25 (g)
- Proteins 34.48 (g)
- Fat 53.74 (g) of which saturated 12.66 (g)of which unsaturated 30.21 (g)
- Fibers 6.25 (g)
- Sodium 1,109.44 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 320 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 2.1 oz onion
- 2.1 oz celery
- 2.1 oz carrots
- 1.3 lbs ground veal
- 5 fl oz red wine (or dry white wine)
- 1 qt tomato puree
- 2 leaves bay leaves
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 10.6 oz peas
- to taste salt
- to taste black pepper (ground)
- 1 tbsp sugar (optional)
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- 1.4 lbs pasta (ridged sedani or tortiglioni)
- 2 eggplants (purple)
- 4 eggs (hard-boiled)
- 3 eggs
- 8 tbsps pecorino (or grated parmesan)
- 8.8 oz provola (sweet)
- 5.3 oz cooked ham (thinly sliced)
- to taste black pepper (ground)
- to taste vegetable oil (for frying)
- to taste salt
Tools
- 1 Cutting board
- 1 Knife for vegetables
- 1 Casserole thick-bottom diameter 10 inches
- 1 Wooden spoon
- 1 Small pot
- 1 Egg slicer
- 1 Frying pan non-stick
- 1 Colander
- 1 Ladle
- 1 Baking dish 13.8×9.8 inches
Steps
To prepare Sicilian baked pasta, start by making the veal ragù.
On the cutting board, finely chop the onion, carrot, and celery, transfer them to a large casserole with olive oil. Sauté over medium-high heat, stirring often, until they take on a nice golden color without burning.
Add the minced meat, crumbling it gradually with a wooden spoon, and cook over high heat, stirring often, until evenly cooked.
Deglaze with dry white or red wine, allow it to fully evaporate.
Add the tomato puree and a quart of water, two bay leaves, a tablespoon of tomato paste dissolved in a little hot water.
Bring to a boil, add salt and pepper.
Lower the heat and, moving the casserole to the smallest burner, keep the heat to a minimum and cook with the lid slightly ajar for about 2 and a half hours.
If needed, add hot water.
Meanwhile, slice the eggplants and layer them in a colander, sprinkling each layer with coarse salt.
Place a weight on top and leave it like this to drain the vegetation water for about half an hour.
Do not extend the time too much to avoid the eggplant slices absorbing too much salt.
Then rinse to remove the salt and pat dry with a cloth.
Fry in plenty of hot vegetable oil and drain on paper towels or a steel colander.
To correct any tomato acidity, add a tablespoon of sugar to the ragù.
About 20 minutes before turning off the heat, add the peas.
Finish cooking, leaving the ragù slightly more liquid. Remove the bay leaves.
The ragù is now ready.
In a small pot, boil 4 eggs for 8 minutes, then remove the hot water and cover them with cool water. Once cold, peel and slice them with an egg slicer.
Cut the provola into pieces.
Cook the pasta in plenty of well-salted water, leaving it halfway cooked.Drain immediately and rinse under running water, let it drain.
Set aside about 5 ladles of ragù, in the rest add more than half of the provola pieces and stir.
Then drop in the pasta and mix well.
Add more than half of the eggplants, slicing them into strips.
If preferred, remove the skin where it’s less tender.
Then add 2 sliced eggs, 2 tablespoons of pecorino or grated parmesan, the shredded ham, leaving a little to fill the middle layer of the pasta.
Mix.
Meanwhile, in a bowl, beat 3 eggs with a pinch of fine salt, ground black pepper, and pecorino or grated parmesan.
Spread a few ladles of ragù on the bottom of the baking dish.
Then pour in half the pasta and compact, cover evenly with a couple of ladles of ragù.
Add the shredded eggplant and some spoonfuls of beaten egg.
Season with the remaining hard-boiled egg, ham, provola, and plenty of pecorino or grated parmesan.
Finish with the rest of the pasta and compact.
Distribute the ragù on top, then the beaten egg and finish with pecorino or grated parmesan.
Bake in the middle/lower part of the oven for about half an hour.
If the pasta browns quickly on the surface, cover with parchment paper in contact and foil on top.
The Sicilian baked pasta is now ready.
Storage
In the refrigerator, well sealed in an airtight container, for about 2 days.
