Cicatelli Molisani Baked Pasta
Looking for a cheesy oven baked pasta dish? This tray of baked Bella Italia Cicatelli Molisani pasta cooked with tomato sauce and sausage mince then layered with mortadella and three cheeses will have you oozing with joy! Use your favorite cheeses and recreate this oven baked goodness for a Sunday meal at home with your family: definitely a dish everyone will enjoy!
- Preparation time
55' - Cooking time
30' - Servings
6
INGREDIENTS
- 2 packets Cicatelli Molisani Pasta
- ¼ onion (chopped)
- 4 pork and fennel Italian sausages
- 3 cups/700gr tomato passata
- 2 tablespoons Pecorino Romano cheese
- 8.8oz/250g mortadella (thick piece cut into cubes)
- 7oz/200g provolone cheese
- 1 fresh buffalo mozzarella (4.4oz/125g)
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
HOW TO PREPARE
Add water to a large pot, leaving some space at the top and put it on the stove to boil. While you are waiting, pre-heat your oven to 428°F/220°C. Once the water boils, add a tablespoon of rock salt and mix using a wooden spoon until it dissolves.
Add two packets of Bella Italia Cicatelli Molisani pasta to the pot of boiling water and cook for 15 minutes as shown on the packet instructions.
While the pasta is cooking, put a medium size fry pan on your stove and turn up the heat to a medium-high temperature. Add 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and leave to heat up before adding the chopped onion.
Sauté the onion for 5 minutes stirring every so often using a wooden spoon.
In the meantime, remove the skin from your sausages and add them to your pan, breaking them down using a fork or wooden spoon so they turn into more of a mince-like consistency. The sausages should cook for approx. 5 minutes. Make sure you move the mixture around, so it browns all over.
Collect a mug full of pasta water and add half to your sausage mixture then stir it through.
Add the tomato passata to the pan, mix through and leave to cook for 15 minutes. Next, drain the pasta “al dente”, add it to the pan and add the rest of the (mug of) pasta water before mixing until combined. Toss the pan if you can as this helps the pasta and sauce to come together beautifully.
Get your oven tray and scoop a layer of pasta into it, spreading it over the base before adding 2 tablespoons of Pecorino Romano cheese on top along with mortadella, provolone and buffalo mozzarella. Add another layer of pasta along with the Pecorino Romano, mortadella, provolone and buffalo mozzarella and repeat one more time so you have a final layer of mortadella and cheese on top.
Bake in the oven for 15 minutes at 428°F/220°C uncovered. Remove from the oven and leave to cool and set for 10 minutes.
Cut a slice of the baked pasta out of the pan and place it onto your plate. Sprinkle with some extra Pecorino Romano cheese on top and devour!
