(Baked Neapolitan macaroni - Our original home cooking)

Baked Neapolitan macaroni, toss pasta with tomato sauce and little meatballs and make layers of pasta and boiled ham and mozzarella cheese

500 g (1,1 lb) Neapolitan macaroni (rigatoni)
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
600 ml (21 fl oz - 2 3/4 C) puréed tomatoes
150 ml (5 fl oz - 3/4 C) red wine
1 tablespoon dried chives
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
1 teaspoon dried bay leaves
2 tablespoons dry breadcrumbs
100 g (3 1/2 oz) boiled ham, sliced
250 g (8 1/2 oz) mozzarella cheese, grated
Grated Parmesan, if you like
Salt
For little meatballs
400 g (14 oz) turkey or veal meat, minced
60 g (2 oz) dry breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon dried chives
1 tablespoon fresh (or frozen) parsley, finely chopped
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 egg
Salt

Time:
preparation: 40 minutes
cooking: 60 minutes
Difficulty:
Medium difficulty
Nutrition Facts (amount per serving):
Calories: 691 (kCal) 35 % GDA - 2893 (kJ)
Protein: 40.2 (g) 80 % GDA
Total fat: 25.8 (g) 36 % GDA
Total carbohydrate: 79.6 (g) 29 % GDA
Sugars: 7.5 (g) 8 % GDA

This is a typical Italian dish of baked pasta. We have been preparing Neapolitan macaroni for a lot of years in our family and they are always successful!

Prepare meatballs. Add all the ingredients in a bowl: the minced meat, aromatic herbs, soy sauce, egg and 4 tablespoons of dry breadcrumbs. Season to taste with salt and knead by your hands. The dough must be soft; prepare little meatballs with it. Every meatball must have the size of an olive. You have to dip them into dry breadcrumbs and arrange in a large pan with 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Let them fry lightly over a gentle heat for few minutes, stirring very carefully with a wooden spoon. Remove the pan from heat; add puréed tomatoes, aromatic herbs and wine. Season to taste with salt and keep on cooking over a gentle heat, without water, until wine is evaporated. You must not cook the sauce for a long time!
Meanwhile cook the macaroni in a large kettle of salted boiling water until al dente stage. Be careful! don't cook pasta too much, you have to bake it too! Drain macaroni and toss them with the sauce and Parmesan cheese, if you like.
Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F). Oil a shallow ovenproof dish and sprinkle with dry breadcrumbs. Arrange a first layer of the pasta; cover with boiled ham slices and mozzarella cheese (Parmesan cheese too, if you like). Then make another layer of pasta and continue until all the ingredients are used up but put apart some mozzarella cheese for the top. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the mozzarella cheese is well melted.
Serve at once.

Note

- That's an example of one-plate meal; you can accompany it with a seasonal green salad. Complete the meal with fresh fruit. But think about its nutrition facts before choosing it: it's rich in calories, fat, protein and sugar. You can't make it among your everyweek recipes.
- You can also prepare this dish for a celebration menu according to the Italian-style. In this case it serves more people for it's the first course.
- We calculated nutrition facts with all the ingredients except the Parmesan cheese. Use it if liked.