Stuffed Baked Pasta
In Calabria, as in other regions of southern Italy, there’s a general preference for dried pasta, even for baked stuffed pastas. Usually, stuffed pastas like canneloni or manicotti are formed from flat pieces of fresh pasta, topped with filling, and then rolled up to make the familiar tube shape. But with this recipe, you stuff pasta for baking as they do it in Calabria, using the dried tubular pasta called paccheri; first cook them just to soften, then spoon in a savory sausage-and-ricotta filling. Fill a big pan with the stuffed paccheri, drape them with tomato sauce and grated cheese, and bake. As with other baked pasta casseroles, you can multiply this recipe many times and make enough schiaffettoni to feed any size crowd. The individual paccheri can be stuffed and the big pan (or pans) fully assembled in advance; bake at the last minute, while your guests are being seated. And best of all, you know everyone will love it.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 6
Ingredients
RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT
Preparation
Step 1
To cook the sausage, remove it from the casings and crumble the meat in a bowl, breaking it into small clumps with your fingers. Pour the olive oil into the skillet, set it over medium heat, and scatter in the onion and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes or so, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent and softened, then scatter the crumbled sausage in the pan. Cook the sausage, stirring and breaking up any clumps, for 15 minutes or so, until the meat juices have all cooked away and it is starting to brown.
Step 2
Sprinkle over it the teaspoon salt, pour in the wine, and stir well. Raise the heat a bit, bring the wine to a boil, and cook, stirring frequently, until it has all evaporated and the meat is browning in a dry pan. After 30 minutes or so, when all of the sausage is brown and crispy, scrape it into a large bowl and let cool.
Step 3
Meanwhile, fill the pasta pot with salted water, and heat to a rolling boil. Drop in the paccheri, stir well, and return the water to a boil. Cook the paccheri until flexible but still quite al dente. Test doneness by plucking one out of the water and pressing it gently. It must be soft enough that you can squeeze it without snapping the tube, yet firm enough to stay open, without collapsing, while you fill it. When cooked enough, quickly lift out all the paccheri with a spider or strainer, and drain them well in a colander.
Step 4
Heat the oven to 400° and brush the baking dish with olive oil.
Step 5
For the stuffing, dump the drained ricotta into the bowl with the sausage, and stir together, mixing the meat and ricotta well. Stir in 1 cup of the grated grana, the chopped hard-cooked eggs, and parsley, until smooth.
Step 6
Spread a cup of the tomato sauce in the bottom of the baking dish. With a soup spoon, fill the paccheri one at a time with the sausage-ricotta stuffing. Lay them in the baking dish, close together, in neat rows, filling the pan with one layer of stuffed pasta tubes—if you have more, arrange them in a second layer on top. Spoon and spread the remaining sauce over the paccheri, and sprinkle the remaining grated cheese on top.
Step 7
Tent the baking dish with a sheet of aluminum foil, arching it above the pasta and pressing it loosely against the sides. Set the dish in the oven, and bake for 45 minutes, then remove the foil, and bake another 15 minutes or so, until the cheese is nicely browned and crusty and the sauce is bubbling.
Step 8
To serve: lift out as many paccheri as a wide spatula will comfortably hold, being careful to keep the topping in place, and with the help of another smaller spatula or knife slide each portion onto a warm dinner plate.
