Sicilian Stuffed Baked Paccheri
Try these stuffed baked paccheri from Sicily, featuring traditional ingredients like fried aubergines, homemade tomato sauce, and lots of Italian cheese.
Equipment
- 1 chopping board
- 1 chopping knife
- 2 medium large pot
- 1 large pan
- 1 pasta ladle
- 1 tablespoon
- 1 teaspoon
- 1 baking dish
Ingredients
- 300 gr Paccheri - Taste with Gusto
- 3 medium aubergines
- 150 gr Sweet Provolone cheese
- 40 gr Grated Parmesan I am using pre-grated for ease
- 750 ml Italian Tomato Passata
- 2 cloves garlic
- fresh basil leaves a handful
- salt and pepper
- Belmorso Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Instructions
- Make the tomato sauce as I always show you. Let me remind you:Clean and cut your garlic cloves in half. Add to a pot; you can stir fry it with a little EVOO before you pour the passata (it will still get the garlic aroma while it simmers). Once you pour the passata, season with salt and pepper, and add the handful of fresh basil leaves. Mix, cover with the lid and lower the heat. Leave to simmer for at least 25 minutes. I like to add the EVOO once the tomato sauce is done, about 2 tablespoons and mix.
- While the tomato sauce cooks, we'll prepare the aubergines.Peel them first. Then, add them to your pasta boiling pot (without the pasta), and blanch them for 3 minutes, so they soften a little.These will make cooking them easier, and also require less EVOO, which makes the recipe lower in calories.If you want to skip that step you can. Just peel your aubergines, and cut them into big cubes.Do the same if you blanch them, once they have cooled. Keep the cubes small so they can fit in the paccheri hole.
- Add the aubergines pieces into a pan, drizzle enough EVOO to it spreads across all aubergines. Don't soak them in EVOO though. Toss them, lower the heat, and let them cook for around 15 minutes. Keep tossing them every few minutes.
- Now, blanch your paccheri for 4 minutes in the same pot. You can change the water, and don't forget to salt it.
- Cut the provolone cheese into cubes. Keep the cubes small so they can fit in the paccheri.
- Your tomato sauce should be done. Take a few spoons and layer them at the bottom of your clean baking dish.
- Once blanched, drain the paccheri, and when they are not too hot to touch, layer them on top of the tomato sauce. Make sure they are tight enough to stand, but not too tight so there's room for them to grow while they finish cooking.
- Once the aubergines are cooked, add them to a bowl. Mix the cut provolone cheese. You can also mix in a few tablespoons of tomato sauce.
- Add a teaspoon of that aubergine, provolone mix to each standing paccheri in the dish. Don't overstuff them. Tip: I found it faster to first add one or two cubes of aubergines in each paccheri, and then do the same with the cheese. If any are still not stuffed to the top, add more aubergines.
- Top the stuffed paccheri with some of the tomato sauce you made.
- Grate the parmesan cheese on top, and bake for 20 minutes. I would suggest baking for 15 minutes at a lower level, and then finishing baking the stuffed baked paccheri at the top of the oven so they take some colour.
- Take out of the oven, leave to cool, and serve with a drizzle of Belmorso EVOO. Buon appetito!
