MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone! I hope you are all having a fantastic holiday season, full of laughter and love. I hope you are spending more time with your family and friends and that you take some time to slow down and really savour each moment of this special time of the year. I am blessed as I will be spending it with my wonderful family and with my parents who have come to visit us all the way from Italy! This Christmas, I will be making dishes from my eBook – Manu’s Christmas Menus – but the recipe I will share with you’ll today is another Christmas classic. For Christmas day lunch, Italians often make Lasagne or a Pasta Bake, just like this one. I am going to show you how to make the most classic of Pasta Bakes, the meat version. This is one of my family’s favourite – actually both my husband and kids like this even more than Lasagne! I hope it will become one of your favourites too! Merry Christmas once again and… Buon appetito!
Pasta Bake - Pasta al Forno
My family's recipe for the most classic Italian “pasta bake”.
Ingredients
Ragu’ Sauce
- 800 gms – 1.75 lbs. beef mince
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 1 carrot finely chopped
- 1 celery talk finely diced
- 80 ml – 2.7 oz. red wine
- 800 ml – 27 oz. tomato purée
- Salt and pepper
- Water
Béchamel Sauce
- 300 ml – 1.5 cups milk hot
- 30 gms – 2 tbsp butter
- 30 gms – 2 tbsp flour
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch nutmeg
To Assemble
- 500 gms – 1.1 lbs. short pasta I use short penne
- 100 gms – 3.5 oz. provolone chopped
- 100 gms - 3.5 oz. mozzarella/bocconcini chopped
- 125 gms – 1/2 cup Parmigiano Reggiano finely grated
- Béchamel sauce from above
Instructions
Ragu’ Sauce
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Put the extra virgin olive oil, celery, carrot and onion in a big pot and sauté them for a few minutes, until the vegetables are soft.
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Add the mince, stir well and break all lumps with a wooden spoon. When the meat is nicely browned, add the wine and cook off the alcohol by increasing the flame.
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Add the tomato purée, salt and pepper and fill with water till the brim of the pot. Lower the flame to medium-low, cover and let the sauce cook for at least 1 hour, or until thick. Keep aside.
Béchamel Sauce
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Put the butter in a non stick pot and let it melt.
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Add the flour and whisk constantly until well incorporated. Let it cook for a minute or two.
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Now start adding hot milk little by little, while mixing continuously. Do not add the next batch until the milk is well incorporated.
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Keep doing so until all the milk is incorporated. Add salt and nutmeg and cook it on a low flame for 5 minutes or until it thickens.
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When ready, cover it to prevent a film forming on the surface.
To Assemble
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Cook the Penne in salted boiling water. If you are using an Italian brand, the exact cooking time is usually written on the packet. In this case, cook it only for HALF the time and then drain it (the pasta will keep cooking in the oven).
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Put the drained pasta in the pot with the meat sauce, add the Béchamel Sauce too and mix well. Add the chopped mozzarella, provolone and 2/3 of the grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Mix well.
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Pour into an oven dish and spread uniformly. Sprinkle the top with the remaining grated Parmigiano Reggiano and cover it with aluminium foil.
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Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180°C – 355°F for 15 minutes, then uncover it and grill it for 5 minutes.
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Serve immediately!
merry christmas to you and your family manu!
Thanks!!! Happy holiday season to you guys as well! <3
I SO wish I would of seen this before I grocery shopped last night. Definitely going to have to make before the New Year… going vegetarian for one month just cause. 😉 Thanks for sharing. ~Mel
Looks wonderful, Manu! Merry Christmas to you and your family! So wonderful that your parents could join you! xx
Yum! That looks great, would be a lovely evening meal after my training, looking forward to giving it a try!
Dear Manu,
You write in this recipe that you use 800 gr. of tom. puree, is this the same as what we can buy in Holland as canned plum tomatoes?
Hi Jan and Maud! Tomato puree is like tomato sauce and it’s usually sold in bottles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato_pur%C3%A9e If you cannot find it ready made, you can simply blend canned tomatoes. 🙂 Hope it helps! Have a great week!
Can this be made the night before and then put in the oven the next day? Also can it be frozen?
Hi Lauren! The answer is yes to both questions. 🙂 If you want to freeze it, just make sure you have plenty of meat and white sauces, as the pasta may “absorb” them more in the freezer and your final pasta bake may turn up a bit dry. Also, make sure the dish is completely cold before you put it in the freezer and cover it well with aluminum foil. When you want to cook it, you can thaw it or cook it from frozen – in this case, it will require a few extra minutes in the oven. In fact, I prefer to thaw or at least semi-thaw it, so I don’t overcook it. Enjoy!
Good recipe and excellent method.