Pasta al Forno con le Polpettine (Oven Baked Pasta with Little Meatballs)

Food is powerful. One whiff of a favorite dish can envelop you instantly in a warm hug and bring comfort. It can transport you to another time, to your childhood, to your grandmother’s house, to a holiday. We need things like that in our lives, don’t we? This baked pasta dish from the south of Italy is one of those dishes that provoke such powerful feelings. Pasta al Forno con le Polpettine, or Oven Baked Pasta with Little Meatballs is a dish that many families serve for their Sunday dinner. It’s satisfying, hearty comfort food at its best. There are as many versions of Pasta al Forno as there are cooks. Read on to hear about mine.

The emotional aspect of food is one of the reasons that I’m so passionate about it in the first place. It’s why I prefer and adore traditional recipes. These are the dishes that invoke the most feeling and provide the most nurturing for the soul. Life is tough, so I like to provide comfort and joy to people when I can. Carrying on culinary traditions also gives me the warm fuzzies, what can I say? In addition, these preparations have been around a long time because they’re usually delicious! (Lutefisk notwithstanding…)

Pasta al Forno con le Polpettine…

Pasta al Forno is a baked pasta dish that is prepared in a variety of ways all over the south of Italy – in Calabria, Campania, Sicily, and Puglia, among others. My recipe is a mash-up based on how my Calabrian friend makes it, how it’s prepared in Naples, and my aunt’s version. I’m warning you, it’s a pretty decadent dish. Your diet will need to be set aside and taken up again the next day!

You can think of this recipe as baked ziti on steroids – not only do you bake pasta in a tomato-based sauce with ricotta and mozzarella cheese but also add salami, hard-boiled egg, mozzarella, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, fresh basil, and little handmade meatballs. It’s the bomb!

When I was little, my nonna (grandmother) used to make lasagna for Christmas, I always remember the little meatballs inside. I loved them to pieces. This recipe is very similar to her lasagna, but here you don’t have to go to all of that trouble. It scratches the same itch with quicker assembly.

Some history…

According to my Calabrian friend Vincenzo, after WWII, in the 1950s this dish became a way of showing that you were doing well. The more you added to the dish, the more it stated that you were doing alright financially. After a period of such poverty and difficulty, this was a sign of abundance and prosperity.

The ingredients that you can use are, therefore, flexible. For instance, I use fresh mozzarella, but you can use provola cheese or scamorza if you wish. In this recipe, I use Neapolitan salami but soppressata would be wonderful too. Note, the use of hard-boiled eggs in baked pasta dishes is common in many areas. It sounds weird but is scrumptious. The egg adds a beautiful richness. I urge you to try it. Other versions of this dish use a bechamel sauce and mortadella. I haven’t had it that way but it certainly sounds heavenly!

Last notes

The little meatballs definitely take this dish over the top. In my recipe, I do not fry them before putting in the sauce, but you certainly may do so. I think that the recipe is decadent and satisfying enough without frying. Putting the meatballs in the sauce “naked” makes them delicate and tender. There is also less clean-up on the stove! If you wish, you may use a slice of stale Italian bread with the crusts removed, soaked in water or milk then squeezed dry, instead of bread crumbs. They come out wonderfully either way. The bread crumbs are easier to come by outside of Italy than good Italian bread so I have selected to use those here. You can make the sauce and meatballs 1-2 days in advance if you want to prep ahead.

In my recipe testing, I used a large fusillone pasta from Gragnano. It’s a bronze-died pasta of excellent quality. I suggest that you track one of these pastas down because they have more texture on the outside of the pasta that your sauce will adhere to. Also, they are sturdier so there is less risk of your pasta becoming completely soggy and overcooked. Some of the brands that I like are Rigorosa, Faella, Pastificcio Carmiano, and Pastificcio G. Di Martino. There are many others. If you are picking up pasta at your neighborhood supermarket, De Cecco and Rummo are good brands.

To accompany this feast in true southern Italian style, you may want to start your meal with my Calabrian Stuffed Eggplants. For other delicious recipes from the south, check out my recipes for Spaghetti alla Corte d’Assise and Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato, Potato & Basil, and Zucchine alla Scapece al Forno.

Happy cooking!

Pasta al Forno con le Polpettine (Oven Baked Pasta with Little Meatballs

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Serves: 6-8

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 4 voted )

Ingredients

• 250 grams (8.8 oz) fusillone, rigatoni, ziti, tortiglioni, or paccheri
• 250 grams (8.8 oz) mozzarella da Buffalo cheese, or cow's milk mozzarella, cubed and drained
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) ricotta cheese, made from Buffalo milk or cow's milk
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) salame, such as Neapolitan, cut into small cubes
• 3 eggs, hard-boiled and thinly sliced
• 1 handful fresh basil leaves, washed and dried well
• 4-6 tablespoons Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, freshly grated, or more to taste
• For the sauce:
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, or more to taste, plus extra oil to form the meatballs
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 700 gram (25 oz) jar of good quality tomato puree
• 1 400 gram (14 oz) can of Italian peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand
• 1 sprig fresh parsley, or more to taste
• 1 small handful fresh basil leaves, washed and dried well
• salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
• For the meatballs:
• 250 grams (8.8 oz) ground meat, preferably a mix of veal, pork, and beef
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced
• 2-3 leaves, fresh basil, washed and dried, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, freshly grated
• 1/4 cup plain bread crumbs, or more if needed
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. First, prepare the meatballs. Mix all of the meatballs ingredients together in a bowl with your hands until well combined. Try not to overwork. Form small meatballs, approximately 1 1/2 cm (about 3/4-inch), rubbing the palms of your hands with extra virgin olive oil now and then to keep your hands from sticking. Set them aside on a plate.

2. Next, prepare the sauce. Place the extra virgin olive oil in a stockpot and heat over medium heat. Add the smashed garlic clove and cook until it becomes very lightly browned on all sides. Press down on the garlic to extract its flavor and remove. Add the onions, with a decent pinch of salt. Cook, stirring until very tender and just beginning to brown. Add the tomato puree and hand-crushed tomatoes, the parsley sprig, a couple of basil leaves, some salt and cook for about 10 minutes. Gently add the meatballs to the sauce and cook for another 30 minutes or so, stirring occasionally until thickened to the desired consistency. Adjust the seasoning and remove the parsley sprig and basil leaves. Tear the rest of the fresh basil leaves into the sauce. Turn off the heat and set aside.

3. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 190 C/375 F and set a pot of water on to a boil.

4. Boil the pasta in salted water until very al dente, approximately 3 minutes less than it says on the package. It will continue to cook in the oven. When done, drain and mix with most of the sauce, without the meatballs and mix with half of the salami. Leave some sauce aside for the bottom of the pan and the top of the pasta at the end.

5. In a 23x33 cm/9x13-inch pan, place a little sauce at the bottom of the dish to lightly coat. Add half of the pasta, then the fresh basil, torn by hand, the rest of the salame, all of the meatballs, the hard-boiled egg slices, dollops of ricotta, the mozzarella cubes, then a layer of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Add the rest of the pasta then top with the rest of the sauce and another generous sprinkling of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

6. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the top has many crusty bits. If desired, put the dish under the broiler for 1 minute or so to brown the top. Keep an eye on it or it will burn! Let the pasta rest for 15 minutes and serve.

Notes

If you are not serving the dish to children, you may add some spice to your tomato sauce. Other ingredient options are scamorza or provola cheese instead of mozzarella, soppressata instead of Neapolitan salami and Pecorino Romano cheese vs. Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. It's your choice.