I know, I know, there are millions of recipes of Baked Pasta, anelletti al forno or pasta o furnu, the traditional dish of Palermo.
But I’m Sicilian and I really enjoy preparing food when I have my American friends at my house, I love preparing the typical dishes of Sicily. It is a way to share my origins with them.

Then I have to say, (perhaps I am boasting!) but I prepared a delicious Baked Pasta, we licked our fingers good!

I prepared 2 types of Baked Pasta, one with the classic ragu` which includes minced meat, and the other pasta for my husband and some vegetarian friends without meat.
The only ingredient that was missing was the hard-boiled egg, because some people did not like it so I avoided putting it.
But in the original recipe the hard-boiled egg is a fundamental ingredient.

It is important that the pasta is of good quality made with durum wheat. I used Primeluci Anelletti Durum Wheat Semolina Pasta that I bought on Amazon.
The anelletti must not be overcooked, and it must remain al dente.
Baked Pasta (A pasta o furnu)
Ingredients
- 1 kg anelletti pasta 35.3 oz
- 100 g primo sale cheese 3.5 oz
- 100 g grated Caciocavallo cheese 3.5 oz
- 100 g grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese 3.5 oz
- 2 eggplant or aubergine
- muddica atturrata(bread crumbs)
New Group
- Ragu` meat sauce
- 1 kg minced meat veal and pork in equal parts 35.3 oz
- 1 / 2 glass of white wine
- 800 ml tomato sauce 3.3 cups
- 1 tbsp tomato concentrate paste
- 300 g peas 1-1/3 cup
- the heart of a celery
- 2 carrots
- 1 onion
- 2 cloves
- salt
- 2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Ragu` ( meat sauce)
- In a pan, fry the thinly sliced onion with the celery and carrots cut into small pieces.
- Crumble the minced meat using your hands. With a wooden spoon, mix the meat with fried vegetables, avoiding any sticking.
- When all the meat turns into a brown color and in small pieces, add half a glass of white wine to blend, and add salt.
- After 5 minutes add the tomato paste and then tomato sauce and cloves.
- Cook at high flame for 10 minutes, after that, reduce the heat and leave it to cook for at least 1hr.
- Add the peas and cook for another half an hour.
Eggplants:
- Cut the eggplants into slices lengthwise, leave them in salted water for 20-30 minutes.
- Drain the eggplants and fry them in hot oil.
- Dry them on paper towels and set them aside.
Pasta:
- At this point cook the pasta in salted water for about 7 minutes: the cooking will be completed in the oven.
Assembly:
- Grease and sprinkle a springform pan with muddica atturrata.
- Lie the sliced eggplants on the bed of breadcrumbs.
- After mixing the anelletti with the meat sauce, add the grated cheese, add the Primo Sale cheese cut into cubes, mix well and pour everything into the pan, pressing with a spoon until it is flat.
- Sprinkle with bread crumbs and bake at 400F in a pre-warm oven for 45 minutes.
- Remove the pasta from the springform pan inverting it onto a plate after cooling it down a little bit.
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