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Sicilian Baked Pasta with Eggplant, Pork & Lamb Ragu
Easy
Prep 15 min Cook 20 min
This Sicilian Baked Pasta with Eggplant, Pork & Lamb Ragu is share dining at its finest. Above all it really is a bake and eat from one pot dish that can be put in the middle of the table for everyone to help themselves. A delicious baked pasta dish full of wonderful true Italian flavours. In addition, the sauce is the most time consuming and the most important part of the recipe as it is going to bring the whole meal together with its wonderful rich flavours.
I first had this dish in a fabulous restaurant in Cefalu, on the North Eastern Coast of Sicily run by Signore Castiglia. He is a fabulous chef with such passion for what he does and always welcomes me with his warm embrace and lots of delicious food and wine. His Pasta in Tegame which is roughly the same thing would be big enough to feed about 18 of us and filled with wonderful ingredients from his delicatessen and the inclusion of eggs, ham, loads of cheese and basil.
Ingredients
- 500g of rigatoni pasta
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- 300g of diced shin veal
- 200g pork neck meat chopped into 3cm chunks
- 200g lamb shoulder, diced into 3cm chunks
- 1 cup white wine
- 50g tomato paste
- 1 lt of passata ( Italian bottled sauce)
- 1 sprig of rosemary and thyme and 5 basil leaves
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1 large eggplant sliced into 4 ml rounds
- 100g grated pecorino cheese
- Fresh basil
Recipe Steps
Preheat the oven to 160c.
- Heat the oil in a large pot and add in the garlic cloves, toss them around for a few minutes then remove and start to brown off the meat in batches. Return the meat to the pot and add in the white wine and simmer for 30 seconds. Add in the tomato paste and the tomato passata, the rosemary, thyme and basil. Bring to a simmer , cover with a lid and simmer for 1 ½ hours. Turn off the heat, adjust the seasoning and set aside.
- Heat a heavy based frypan with the extra olive oil and fry the eggplant rounds until golden on both sides about 2-3 minutes. Drain on paper towel.
- Bring a large pot of salty water to the boil and cook the pasta as directed on the packet. Drain the pasta and set aside. Into a casserole pot that is suitable to go into the oven, drizzle in some olive oil and a spoon full of sauce this will stop the pasta from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Add in some of the pasta in a good layer to cover the sauce, then top with more sauce, some of the eggplant slices and some of the grated pecorino or parmesan cheese. Continue with the layering finishing with the sauce and the cheese.
- Preheat the oven to 160c and bake the pasta for 30 minutes , this is one of those dishes where the pasta is definitely better left for 10 – 15 minutes and even better the next day. Garnish with a little more basil and serve with extra pecorino cheese.