Pasta al forno

Meatball-making fun.

pasta-with-pesto

Ingredients

Salsa:
  • 1 onion
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 700ml passata
  • 1 glass red wine
Meatballs:
  • 500g mince
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1 egg
  • 6 tbsp breadcrumbs (approximate)
  • 30g very finely chopped parsley (approximate)
Other:
  • 500g rigatoni
  • Parmigiano
  • Other cheese that melts well (mozarella or cheddar)

Instructions

Salsa:
  1. Dice the onion and crush the garlic before frying in some olive oil for a few minutes, along with the bay leaves.
  2. Add the passata and red wine, allowing it all to simmer for around 30 minutes.
Meatballs:
  1. Mix all the meatball ingredients together by hand.
  2. Take a generous pinch at a time, squish it together and roll. Repeat until the mixture is used up - make about 35 meatballs.
  3. Drop them into the salsa while it is simmering away.
Pasta al forno:
  1. Put the pasta on, and cook it for about half the time it needs, then drain off the water.
  2. Layer the salsa, pasta, and cheeses in sequence into a large oven dish, adding black pepper as you go. Try and remove the bay leaves if you come across them. Finish with salsa on top, ideally covering any bits of pasta that are sticking above the surface unless you like it very crispy.
  3. Pop it in the oven at 180C for about 20 minutes before serving.

Serves 6.