Paccheri are wide enough to stand up in the dish, which is the point: each tube fills with sauce and cheese and holds it there. This is the one to make when people are coming and you want the oven to do the last half hour of work for you.
What you need
- 500g Rummo paccheri, bronze die
- 2 tins peeled tomatoes (800g) or 800g of our Casillo catering tin
- 4 tablespoons Luglio Extra Virgin Olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, sliced
- 250g mozzarella or fior di latte, torn and drained
- 60g parmigiano, grated
- Basil, salt, black pepper
Method
- Soften the onion in the oil over a low heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until sweet and translucent. Add the garlic for the last minute.
- Crush in the tomatoes by hand and simmer for 25 minutes until thick enough to hold a line when you draw a spoon through it. Season, and tear in half the basil.
- Boil the paccheri for half the time on the packet. Half — they finish in the oven, and pasta that goes in fully cooked comes out collapsed.
- Drain and fold through two thirds of the sauce. Handle them gently; a torn tube spills everything it was holding.
- Layer into a baking dish standing upright if you have the patience, flat if you do not. Mozzarella between the layers, the rest of the sauce on top, parmigiano over everything.
- Bake at 200°C for 25 minutes until the top is browned and the edges are bubbling.
- Rest it 10 minutes before serving. Straight from the oven it will not hold its shape on the plate.
Notes
Drain the mozzarella properly — half an hour in a sieve, or the dish turns watery. This is the difference between a baked pasta and a wet one.
Make it a day ahead up to the point of baking. It keeps in the fridge overnight and goes in the oven straight from cold, with 10 minutes added.
Serves 6.