Pasta 'Ncasciata

This celebratory Sicilian baked pasta dish is sort of like a delicious cross between eggplant parmesan and baked ziti. It is common through Sicily, where it's also known as "Incasciata" and has several locale-specific variations. For example, the version made around Ragusa uses peas, crumbled sausage and ricotta cheese. This version is one of the more common, though. The name likely derives from its use of caciocavallo cheese ("cacio-cheesed" in essence). The dish has become more famous since the Montalbano series of TV movies showed the inspector enjoying this baked dish, prepared by his housekeeper.

It is usually served for a big family Sunday lunch, or a celebratory meal, meaning it's something sort of special rather than an everday dish.

And by the way, the pasta called maccheroncino in Sicily is a short tubular pasta, so you can easily substitute ziti or rigatoni.

Sicliian Baked Incasciata Recipe

Ingredients:

600 grams (1.3 pounds ) maccheroncino pasta (or rigatoni/ziti)
700 ml (29 ounces, a large can or bottle) Tomato sauce or puree
Clove of garlic
1 carrot, minced
1 thick slice onion, minced
Glass of white wine
4-5 fresh basil leaves
200 grams ( ½ pound) ground or chopped meat (beef, pork, or mix)
50 grams (1/3 cup) chunk of mortadella or salame, chopped
200 grams (3/4 cup ) Caciocavallo fresco (or )
2 hard-boiled eggs
1-2 eggplants (aubergine)
100 grams (1/2 cup) grated pecorino cheese
Fine bread crumbs

For the sauce:
In a saucepan, heat some olive oil, then saute the garlic, carrot and onion until soft. Add the ground or chopped meat, stirring to brown. Pour in the white wine, simmer a couple of minutes, and add the tomato sauce, along with salt and pepper to taste, the torn basil leaves, and perhaps a pinch of red chile flakes, if you’d like. Simmer about one hour. Meanwhile, prepare the eggplant (aubergine), and then boil the pasta to al dente.

For the eggplant: Peel the eggplants, and slice them. Sprinkle with salt and let sit at least 15 minutes to draw out the bitter juices. Rinse, dry with paper towels, and then fry the slices in olive oil. Drain on paper towels.

For the pasta and putting it all together: Boil the pasta in salted water until just al dente, still a bit chewy. Drain and return it to the pan, adding the meat sauce and stirring it up well.

In a large oven-proof baking dish, wipe it down with olive oil and then sprinkle bread crumbs all over to coat the pan. Do layers of the pasta with meat sauce, fried eggplant slices, Caciocavallo cheese pieces, salami or mortadella, slices of egg. Finish the layers with pasta and eggplant, a bit more sauce and a heavy coating of grated pecorino cheese. Then sprinkle on bread crumbs.

Bake in the oven at 190 C (375 F) for about 20 -30 minutes, until the cheese and bread crumbs make a golden crust.