The Baked Anelletti are a typical Sicilian pasta shape that are generally baked in the oven. Here they are enhanced by seasoning them with Sicilian ragù and other ingredients such as aubergines and toasted breadcrumbs. Today we will first make the sicilian sauce (ragu) and then the baked pasta.
Ingredients for 8-10 people
1 kg of Anelletti
Sicilian Sauce – ragu (1 kg of minced meat)
1 pack of Bechamel (optional)
300 gr of grated Parmigiano Reggiano
500 gr of Mozzarella
200 gr of Breadcrumbs
4 medium eggplants (to be purged and diced before frying)
Ham (optional) to taste
8 hard boiled Eggs, sliced (optional)
Butter to taste
The first step to make the Sicilian anelletti is the preparation of the Sicilian sauce (ragu) with 1 kg of minced meat.
Once this is done, cook the anelletti in a pot and butter the pan which will subsequently be sprinkled along all the surfaces with toasted breadcrumbs.
The anelletti will be cooked for half the recommended cooking time because the cooking will be completed in the oven.
We set aside a glass of sicilian sauce (ragu) (which we will need to cover everything at the end) and use the remaining part to season pasta to which the Parmesan cheese, mozzarella, aubergines and ham (optional) will also be added.
Ladle, place these ingredients inside the pan and add, gently and evenly distributed inside the pasta, even the sliced hard-boiled eggs (optional).
We complete by adding a little more sicilian sauce (ragu) ragù, sprinkle with toasted breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese and insert a few flakes of butter which will serve to improve the final gratin.
The pan will be placed in the static oven at 180 g for about 40 minutes until the breadcrumbs are well au gratin.
At the end of cooking we could sprinkle with more Parmesan cheese. Let it cool for a few minutes before portioning and serving our Sicilian baked anelletti.
Variants and Curiosities
- Thin slices of fried aubergine could be used to line the pan and make a timbale. If we opt for this solution, it will not be necessary to grease the pan and then sprinkle it with breadcrumbs. At the end of cooking, the pan will be turned upside down on a serving dish so that the visible part is that of the aubergine. In this case the cooking times in the oven can be reduced as, since there is no gratin to make, even 25-30 min may be enough.
- Together with the other ingredients, when the Sicilian anelletti are seasoned, some use the béchamel, others do not.
- To be closer to tradition, a primo sale cheese or tuma cheese could be used instead of mozzarella and caciocavallo cheese instead of parmesan.
