Il Cucinologo
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Baked Paccheri

17/11/2023

Baked paccheri are an excellent dish for a Sunday lunch or for a special dinner where you want to delight your guests with rich and enveloping flavors. Traditionally, paccheri are filled with ricotta and meat sauce, but there can be many variations. Here is a classic recipe:

Ingredients

  • 500 g paccheri
  • 400 g tomato sauce (tomato passata)
  • 300 g ground meat (you can use beef, pork or a mix of the two)
  • 250 g ricotta
  • 150 g mozzarella cut into cubes
  • 100 g grated Parmesan
  • 1 small onion finely chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves chopped
  • Extra virgin olive oil to taste
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Fresh basil to taste
  • Butter for greasing the baking dish

Preparation

  1. Preheat the oven to 180 °C.
  2. In a pan, sauté the onion and garlic in a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil until translucent. Add the ground meat and cook until browned, breaking it up with a spoon. Season with salt and pepper.
  3. Pour the tomato sauce into the pan with the meat and let it cook over medium-low heat for about 15-20 minutes. Add the chopped basil leaves.
  4. Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the paccheri for about half the time indicated on the package – they should be very al dente as they will finish cooking in the oven.
  5. Drain the paccheri and let them cool slightly.
  6. In a bowl, combine the ricotta with half of the grated Parmesan, adjust salt and pepper and mix to combine.
  7. Grease a baking dish with butter, then start filling the paccheri with the ricotta mixture and arrange them in the baking dish.
  8. Pour the meat sauce over the paccheri, making sure it gets inside the pasta as well.
  9. Distribute the mozzarella cubes over the paccheri and sprinkle with the remaining grated Parmesan.
  10. Bake and cook for about 20-30 minutes or until the surface is golden and crispy.
  11. Let the baked paccheri rest for a few minutes before serving. Garnish with fresh basil leaves if desired.

Trivia

This typical recipe from southern Italy lends itself to numerous variations; for example, you can add chopped spinach to the ricotta filling or replace the ground meat with sausage ragù for a more rustic flavor. In any case, the result is a hearty dish that is much appreciated on every table.