Home Chefs – Pasta Bake (Pasta al Forno)
Serves 4-6.
Kindly shared by my Aunt in Warrnambool, this Pasta Bake has been a family favourite that we have been eating (and requesting) for years. The entire meal is magical but there is definitely something about the sauce that brings it altogether so don’t skip on that part. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do. Thanks Aunty Rosie!
JC x
Meatballs:
250 grams Beef and Pork mince
3 tablespoons of Parmesan
2 cups of breadcrumbs
3 eggs
A palmful of Parsley
Salt
Sauce (prepare a day or two before if you can for extra flavour):
2 Lamb chops
2 Pork spare ribs
1 tin of diced tomatoes
1 bottle of Passata
4-5 Bay leaves
1 small brown onion, finely diced
1 clove of garlic
Other:
500 grams Penne pasta
350 grams Mozzarella
Sauce/
Fry onion and garlic with meat.
Add tomato, Passata and Bay Leaves and simmer for 1 hour.
Once it’s cooled down, store in fridge.
Meatballs/
Mix all the ingredients together and roll into small balls (scoop half a tablespoon as a measurement).
Lightly fry until golden.
Pasta Bake/
Boil the pasta and drain. Turn the oven on to 180 degrees Celsius.
Layer your oven dishes with baking paper. This is the beginning of the layering process, start by adding some pasta and a little sauce and mix together, then place some meatballs, sprinkle Parmesan and Mozzarella. Continue in this fashion until you have almost filled the tray then sprinkle generously with Mozzarella and Parmesan.
Cover with Aluminium foil and bake for one hour. In 60 minutes you have a winter warmer that will make you and the Mozzarella melt, yum!
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Home Chefs #7: Potato Gnocchi with Tomato Sugo
Home Chefs #1: Chorizo Meatballs
