Pasta al Forno
A couple of years ago a film was made about a meal -- it wasn't the first, nor will it be the last, but in this case the restaurant where it all took place was Italian, and the main dish was a timpano, which is a rich pasta dish that's baked in the oven. As one might expect, the film spawned a great flurry of recipe requests on the Rec.Foods.Cooking newsgroup that were met with all sorts of tasty-looking responses. Some hewed fairly close to what was pictured in the film, with sausages and hard-boiled eggs mixed in with the pasta, while others went much farther afield. The variety was fascinating, but didn't come as a surprise.
As anyone who visits Italy rapidly realizes, pasta may be the national dish, but it's not a monolith: In adapting it to suit local traditions and ingredients, the cooks of the Peninsula have produced an infinite variety of forms and preparation methods. While many of these dishes are quickly made, there also special occasions that beg something more, and then the idea of combining cooked pasta and other ingredients to produce a sort of casserole that can be heated through in the oven becomes quite obvious.
The best-known of these dishes is of course lasagna, which also serves to show how much pasta al forno varies from region to region: Tuscans and Emilia-Romagnans make it with béchamel sauce, sugo alla bolognese, and grated Parmigiano; Ligurians make it with pesto sauce and serve up as a refreshing summer dish; Calabrians (among others) use ricotta salata (salted ricotta); and Neapolitans produce extraordinarily sumptuous Carnival lasagna with ricotta and a variety of other ingredients.
Beyond lasagna the variety becomes infinite: Almost any kind of pasta except thin-stranded spaghetti, which would overcook, can be used as a base for pasta al forno (baked pasta). Nor is the choice limited to plain pasta and sauce; in many dishes the pasta is baked in a piecrust (at which point the recipe is a pasticcio di…). Perhaps the most extraordinarily rich of these dishes, true festival food that's perfect in the dead of winter, is the Emilian pasticcio di tortellini. But you needn't wait the winter months -- there's something for every season, and every sort of occasion too.
A printer-friendly version of
the above.
And finally:
- Pasta al forno recipes on the site:
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- Lasagne al
Pesto
An unexpectedly refreshing Ligurian summer dish. - Lasagne al
Forno
The traditional Northern Italian Lasagne, made with sugo alla bolognese, béchamel sauce, and Parmigiano. - Lasagne Alla
Calabrese con Ricotta
A rustic Calabrian lasagna made with salted ricotta and tomatoes, perfect for the summer months. - La Grande
Lasagna di Carnevale
A spectacular, sumptuous Neapolitan Carnival dish that will stun your guests and take you all of Lent to recover from. But it's worth it! - Lasagne alla
Ricotta
More Neapolitan extravigance, a wonderful winter dish that will again stun your guests and take you all of Lent to recover from. - Pasticcio di
Tortellini all'Emiliana
It's hard to imagine anything more festive than a tortellini pie. - Pasticcio di
Maccheroni
Artusi's version of a rich Emilian dish used to celebrate Carnival -- and what happened to the man who ate one all by himself. - Pasta O Furnu
Catanisa
A hearty Sicilian baked pasta with eggplant and meat balls. - Timballo di
Maccheroni alla Siciliana
A somewhat lighet version of a classic Sicialian baked pasta dish, with eggplant but no meat. - Timpano di
Scamarro Imbottito
An elegant Neapolitan timpano that's perfect when you're cooking a meatless meal. - Timpano di
Peperoni
A zesty baked pasta dish with a bell pepper shell that will be wonderful in summer. - Fusilli al
Formaggio
Hearty fusilli baked in a cream sauce. - Maccheroncini
al Prosciutto
Quick, easy, and hearty -- good pizzeria food. - Cannelloni
all'Etrusco
Cannelloni stuffed with a delicate mushroom filling.
- Lasagne al
Pesto
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