Pasta Al Forno con Crema di Zucchine e Pancetta
Pasta al Forno takes a page out of my childhood memories. It's still one of my favourite meals. It's a baked pasta dish, usually made with tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, and baked to golden perfection.
This version is quite the savoury level up — made with a creamy zucchini sauce, caciocavallo, and crispy bits of pancetta.
The cheesiness inside is one thing, but the crunchy top is a whole other thing! Make sure you get that crust. It has to be crunchy.
Ingredients 10
3 zucchini, large, diced
1 garlic clove, peeled and smashed
1⁄4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3⁄4 cup water
salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
1⁄4 bunch fresh basil leaves
100 g caciocavallo cheese, grated
500 g rigatoni
100 g pancetta stesa (flat cured pancetta), sliced into strips
250 g fior di latte, cut into 1/2 cm cubes
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Method 7
In a deep saucepan, heat the with the peeled and smashed until just fragrant. Add the diced and sauté for one minute. Add the , and season generously with salt and pepper. Cover with the lid and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the zucchini is softened.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes. While the cools, put a large pot of on to boil, ready to cook the pasta.
After 10 minutes of resting the , add the and half of the grated . Blend into a creamy sauce using a stick blender, food processor, or blender, and set aside.
Once the pot of water is at a rolling boil, add a couple of pinches of rock salt and boil the for 3 minutes less than what the packaging says.
Meanwhile, slice the into strips (if not already done) and cook on medium heat in a dry pan until crisp.
While the pasta is cooking, preheat the oven to 200°C on the fan-assisted bake setting (or just bake setting) and prepare a 30cm x 20cm baking dish. Once the has parcooked, retain a 1/4 cup of the starchy cooking water and drain the pasta in a colander. Transfer the drained pasta back into the emptied pot. Add the crema di zucchine, the reserved pasta cooking water, , and crispy , and gently stir well to coat. Transfer the mixture to the baking dish and sprinkle over with the remaining grated .
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the edges of the pasta on top are super crispy. Allow the dish to cool for a few minutes before serving.
Anthony Silvio's tips
There is no need to add any oil as the pancetta is fatty and we want to render out that excess fat.
If you don’t have a stick blender, alternatively you can mash the mixture together with a potato masher which will combine the ingredients nicely, though you will end up with a more textured sauce instead of a “crema”.
The idea is to purposely undercook the pasta so that by the time it bakes in the oven it remains lovely and al dente.
And in case you were wondering, Pasta Al Forno is even better the following day as leftovers.
