A rich and crazy delicious pasta bake of tortiglioni, layered with tomato sauce, meatballs, nduja, cacciatore, egg, and cheese. Pure love in a lasagne dish.
Keyword: Beef, Cheese, Meatballs, nduja, Pasta, pasta bake, pasta sauce, Pork, salami, Sauce, Tomato, tortiglioni, veal
Servings: 6
Calories: 884kcal
Equipment
Air tight container for resting
Wooden dowel, 14mm diameter
Ridged gnocchi board
Enamelled cast iron pot (or large regular pot)
20x30cm lasagne dish
Pasta roller and cutter (if not using a rolling pin and knife)
Ingredients
Pasta
225g00 flour
75gdurum semolina flour
1/2tspsalt
3eggs
3egg yolks
1tspextra virgin olive oil
Meatballs
250gveal mince
250gpork mince
1/3cupbreadcrumbs
1/4cupparmesan
1egg
1/2tspground sage
1/2tspdried thyme
1/2tspdried rosemary
1/2tsphot paprika
1/2tspgarlic powder
1/2tsponion powder
1tbspextra virgin olive oil
Sauce
6-8clovesgarlic
1onion
2tbspextra virgin olive oil
handful basil
small handful sage
1/2tbspfennel seeds
800mlpassata
1tspsugar
salt and pepperto season
4eggs
100gnduja
100gcacciatore Calabrese
200gprovolone cheese
35gromano cheese
Instructions
Pasta
Combine the 00 and durum semolina flours, and the salt, and form into a well. Add the eggs, egg yolks, and oil into the centre, and stir with a fork to combine.
Form into a ball using your hands, and knead vigorously for 10 minutes. If the dough sticks to your hands or the kneading surface, add 1-2 teaspoons of flour at a time; if it is too dry, add water in similar amounts.
Transfer to an airtight container, and leave to rest for 30 minutes, away from heat or direct sunlight.
Divide the dough into 4 portions, storing those that you're not working on back in the airtight container. Pass through a pasta machine on the thickest setting a few times, folding the dough over itself in between passes, before incrementally stepping it through to a thickness of 6.
Cut each sheet into rectangles of about 60mm width, and 70mm length. Note that this is for a dowel of 14mm diameter; if using a different sized object to wrap the pasta around, use a piece of paper or spare bit of dough to determine how wide your rectangles should be.
Working with one rectangle at a time, wrap around the dowel. If the overlapped edges don't seal against each other, run a wet finger along the underside of the top overlapping edge.
With grooves running parallel to the length of the pasta, roll across a gnocchi board. Starting on the overlap and rolling towards the exposed edge will ensure that the seal remains.
Transfer to baking paper lined trays, standing on their ends to maintain the shape. You can also stand them up in kitchen containers or cake tins to make transport easier. Refrigerate uncovered for up to one week.
Meatballs, Sauce, Bake
Combine all meatball ingredients apart from the olive oil in a bowl, using your hands to knead together like dough. Let it squeeze through your fingers.
To save time, quickly divide the meatball mix into roughly small grape-sized lumps, before rolling them all into tiny meatballs between your palms.
Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large heavy pot, and then fry the meatballs until a golden brown crust begins to form. If you don't have a large pot, cook these in batches to avoid overcrowding.
Remove meatballs from the pot and set aside. Drop heat down to low-medium and add 2 tbsps of oil to the pot.
Dice the onion and roughly chop the garlic, before dropping into the pot that you just cooked the meatballs in. Cook, stirring, for 10 minutes or until onion has softened.
Add the basil, sage, and fennel seeds, and cook for a further 2-3 minutes or until basil has turned a bright green and herbs are aromatic.
Pour in the passata, seasoning with the sugar, salt, and pepper. Be sure to half fill the empty passata bottle with water, and swill around before also pouring that into the pot. Reintroduce the meatballs, drop heat to low and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Add the eggs into a pot with enough cold water to cover, and bring to the boil. Boil for 14 minutes, until hard, before removing and immersing in cold water. Remove shells.
After 20 minutes, remove the sauce from the pot and stir through the cacciatore, chopped into half discs.
Blanch the pasta in boiling water for 25-30 seconds, and then drain before plunging into iced water.
Break the nduja into small chunks, and chop the provolone and hard-boiled eggs into cubes.
Spoon a layer of sauce and pasta into the lasagna dish, before sprinkling with nduja, provolone, and egg. Repeat until all ingredients are used up; 4-5 layers.
Transfer dish to oven, and cook for 30 minutes or until top layer of pasta begins to darken.
Remove and allow to sit for a few minutes before serving.