Pasta al Forno is a comforting and easy baked pasta recipe made with a rich tomato sauce, rigatoni pasta, a creamy, cheesy taleggio cheese sauce and topped with crunchy breadcrumbs before being baked to perfection.
SERVES: 4 COOKING TIME: 2 HOURS
Ingredients
2 tsp Butter
1 Medium sized onion, finely chopped
1-2 Garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tbsp Nduja Sauce
500ml Tomato Passata
400g Rigatoni
250g Mozzarella cheese, cut into pieces
500g Parmesan, grated
2 tbsp Tomato Concentrate
2 tbsp Dried Parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180-200°C.
- Fry the onion in butter until they are softening. Be careful not to allow them to burn.
- Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Then add the tomato concentrate and Nduja sauce and stir well.
- Pour in the tomato passata to the pan and bring the sauce to a simmer. Add salt & pepper as required. Let the sauce simmer for 5 minutes or until just thickened in a low heat. Add some water if it is too thick.
- Put salted water on to boil for the pasta and cook the pasta to al dente according to package instructions. Strain and add the pasta to the meat sauce when it is ready. Mix well and allow to cool.
- Put a later of pasta with sauce on the bottom of an oven dish.
- Make another layer with thick pieces of mozzarella.
- Add another layer of pasta with meat sauce and again some mozzarella.
- Finish with a layer of pasta.
- Sprinkle with parmesan and dried parsley and bake until the top layer starts to crisp (30-40 mins)
