Baked pasta with eggplant and meat sauce is a Sicilian specialty that has spread throughout the Peninsula. It will take about 1 1/2 hours to prepare, and should serve 8 or more.
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 3/4 pounds rigatoni (similar to ziti but larger)
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 3 eggplants
- Oil for frying
- 3 hard-boiled eggs
- 1/2 pound meatballs made by cooking ragú listed in arancini di riso down until it is thick and forming it into balls
- 1/4 pound mild sausage, crumbled
- 1/3 pound fresh mozzarella (or Sicilian Tuma, if it is available where you live), diced
- 1 1/4 cups grated pecorino pepato (a variety of pecorino romano that has peppercorns in it)
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs
- Olive oil
- Salt & pepper to taste.
Preparation:
Begin by preparing the recipe for the meat sauce, and while it's cooking slice the eggplants into half-inch slices, salt the slices, and let them sit in a colander for an hour. Rinse the slices, pat them dry, fry them in hot oil (a few at a time), then drain them on absorbent paper and slice them into strips.
Hard boil the eggs and cut them into 1/8-inch slices.
Boil the pasta in lightly salted water, and drain it while it's still al dente.
Once you have assembled the ingredients, oil a pan large enough to hold them and preheat your oven to 360 F (180 C). Lay down a first layer of pasta and dot it with meat balls and strips of eggplant. Lay down another layer of pasta, and more meatballs and eggplant, continuing until all is used up; distribute the diced mozzarella over the top layer, together with the sliced egg and the bread crumbs. Heat through in the oven for about 20 minutes, and serve.
I'd go with a white wine, for example a Fiano di Avellino, here, or perhaps a zesty red, along the lines of an Aglianico del Vulture, though not a riserva.
Hard boil the eggs and cut them into 1/8-inch slices.
Boil the pasta in lightly salted water, and drain it while it's still al dente.
Once you have assembled the ingredients, oil a pan large enough to hold them and preheat your oven to 360 F (180 C). Lay down a first layer of pasta and dot it with meat balls and strips of eggplant. Lay down another layer of pasta, and more meatballs and eggplant, continuing until all is used up; distribute the diced mozzarella over the top layer, together with the sliced egg and the bread crumbs. Heat through in the oven for about 20 minutes, and serve.
I'd go with a white wine, for example a Fiano di Avellino, here, or perhaps a zesty red, along the lines of an Aglianico del Vulture, though not a riserva.
