Italian Pasta Pie with Crust
A vegetarian pasta pie fit for the holidays, crunchy and crumbly on the outside and creamy and aromatic on the inside. Did I say it's vegetarian?
Equipment
- 1 medium sized pot
- 1 silicone spoon
- 1 chopping board
- 1 chopping knife
- 1 grater
- 1 baking dish
Ingredients
- 2 onions
- 1 can lentils 400 gr
- 125 gr natural tofu semi-hard consistency
- Belmorso Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- salt and pepper
- rosemary
- Saporoso - Condiment with Balsamic Vinegar of Modena
- 50 gr parmesan cheese I suggest pecorino for extra taste
- 200 gr Rigatoni tortiglioni or elicoidali pasta works too
- 200 ml besciamella packed or homemade
- nutmeg to taste
- 1 sheet brisee pastry or 2 if you also want to cover the top
Instructions
- Wash, peel and cut the onions.
- Transfer to your pot and drizzle with EVOO.
- Let the onions sauté on their own.
- In the meantime, open your tofu, drain any water, and crumble it in a plate or bowl. Set aside.
- Drain your lentils and set those aside too.
- Once the onion has started to brown, add the tofu, and the lentils in.
- Season with salt and pepper. Add the rosemary too.
- Then drizzle plenty of Saporoso Balsamic Vinegar of Modena - at least 5 tablespoons. Mix well and leave to cook for 10 minutes at low heat.
- Use this time to grate your cheese - parmesan, pecorino, or a mix of both.
- Put your water to boil so you can cook your pasta. Remember to salt it well.
- When measuring your pasta make sure you keep in mind that the pasta will double in size and that you'll have at least half of that volume also in filling. I suggest you measure your pasta in your dish so you can see with your eyes and determine whether you need to use a larger dish, or cook less pasta.
- Once the pasta has cooked, following packaging instructions, drain it and put it back in the pot.
- Add the besciamella and 2/3 of the grated cheese onto the pasta, and mix well.
- Then add the filling you cooked and mix again. Make sure to do a taste test, and add more balsamic or seasoning, if it needs it.
- While the pasta cools, you want to blind bake your bottom pastry for 15 minutes in a preheated oven at 160 degrees Celsius.
- Then take the baked crust out and leave to cook for 20 minutes.
- It's finally time to fill your pie with the pasta you prepared. Top with the remaining grated cheese. At this point you can either put it back in the oven to bake as it is; or you can add more brisee pastry on top, and then bake it.
- If you opt for option 1, your pasta will need to bake for around 20 minutes. Option 2 will require at least 30 minutes baking so the top pastry can cook well.
- Once ready, take your vegetarian Italian pasta pie out of the oven. If you want to transfer it to a serving plate, I suggest you wait a little until the sides are cool. If you want to serve it straight away, just wait 5 minutes.Either way, Buon Appetito & Buone Feste!
