La Pasta al Forno | Italian Kitchen

Pasta al Forno della Zia Rina

Ingredients

(These will vary depending on size of your baking dish)

300g Lasagna Sheets

700ml Tomato Sauce
400ml Besciamella Sauce
2 Fresh Mozzarella Balls
150g Grated Parmesan

3 Kraft Cheese Slices
200 g Parma Ham

200g Dry Cured Sausage

Ingredienti

300g Lasagne

700ml Sugo di Pomodoro

400ml Besciamella

2 Mozzarelle

150g Parmigiano

3 Fette Formaggio Fuso
200g Prosciutto di Parma

200g Salsiccia Secca

È ora di cucinare!

Wet a piece of kitchen towel with a little oil and very lightly coat the lasagna sheets and pre-cook them in boiling water. Make sure you don't overcook them, just enough to soften them. Set to one side.
Peel the coating from the salsiccia secca and cut into small, thin pieces.
Grate il formaggio parmigiano, slice la mozzarella and cut any excess fat from il prosciutto di Parma - the Parma ham

Coat the bottom of your baking dish with tomato sauce and lay lasagna sheets on top.
Spread tomato sauce over the top of the lasagna sheets followed by the Parma Ham and diced sausage.
Next sprinkle the grated parmigiano over the top. Break off little corners of the cheese slices and scatter them about.
Scatter the mozzarella slices over the top of everything.
Drizzle the mixture with il sugo di pomodoro - tomato sauce and spoonfuls of la besciamella.
Repeat this process of layers until the dish is full.
Load the top layer with plenty of sauce and cheese for a crispy finish.
Cook in a pre-heated oven at 180°C for 40 minutes

Above: creating layers with the ingredients.

You could make this pasta bake with different ingredients for the filling, even omitting the meat to make it vegetarian. This version is how my zia Rina always makes it and as a young child nothing was more exciting than when it was on the menu!
This recipe uses two of the 'mother sauces' - il sugo di pomodoro and la besciamella, so you will have to prepare them before making this dish. Links to their recipes are below.