Pasta al Forno

Name: Pasta al Forno (Macaroni in the Oven)
Cuisine: Italy
Ingredients: salt; 1 few capers; 1 soupspoon olive oil; 800 g (1¾ lb) of penne rigate or rigatoni (short-textured macaroni); ½ litre (18 fl oz) concentrated chicken stock; ½ litre (18 fl oz) fresh tomato sauce, reduced; chopped parsley; thyme; 1 heap of very fine baked crumbs; 1 brandy glass of red wine; 1 dessertspoon olive oil; 2 bayleaves; 200 g (7 oz) prosciutto crudo or coppa; 2 fresh eggs; ½ kg (1 lb 2 oz) of twice-minced horse meat (or lean beef); 2 hard-boiled eggs; 1 garlic clove; 2 tablespoons grated parmesan; 1 dessertspoon of olive oil; 1 mozzarella cheese; 2 tablespoons grated pecorino

Macaroni in the Oven

Preparation info

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Honey from a Weed

By Patience Gray

Published 1986

About

I give the Apulian version, which is far easier to make than to explain; something to prepare at early morning when the bread oven is being fired, but you can put it in a domestic oven. Its peculiarity is the presence of minute polpette, meat balls, dispersed in the pasta.

Ingredients

800 g (1¾ lb) of penne rigate or rigatoni (short-textured macaroni)
200 g</

Europe
Italy
Apulia
Main course
Sauce
Mediterranean
Pasta

Method

Boil a cauldron of water, salt it, and cook the penne so that they are not quite al dente (i e undercooked), strain in a colander and pass rapidly under the cold tap.

Then make the polpette. Pound the garlic, add the capers and some salt, pound again. Liberate with the oil and add to the minced meat in a bowl. Pound the mixture. Then work in the raw eggs. Sprinkle w