Pasta pie (pasticcio di pasta alla ferrarese)
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 1 to 2 hours
- Serve
- Serves 6
- Dietary
- Nut-free
This is real comfort food – pasta smothered in tomato and béchamel sauce and cooked in golden pastry.
Ingredients
For the pastry
For the ragù
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- ½ small onion, finely chopped
- ½ celery stick, finely chopped
- ½ small carrot, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- 100g/3½oz beef mince
- 100g/3½oz turkey or chicken mince
- 2 Italian pork sausages, skins removed and crumbled (approximately 150g/5½oz in total)
- 200g/7oz chestnut or button mushrooms, finely sliced
- 80ml/2½fl oz white wine
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the béchamel sauce
For the pasta
To serve
Method
To make the pastry, grease a 24cm/9½in round pie dish or cake tin with butter and dust with flour. Set aside.
Place the flour, salt and butter in a large bowl and rub together with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Stir in the sugar and lemon zest.
Gradually add the egg yolks and, if necessary, a little cold water until it comes together to make a smooth dough.
Form into a ball, then divide into two pieces, making one piece a little bigger.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the larger piece of dough until it is approximately 3mm thick and use it to line the pie dish.
Take the other piece of dough and roll it out to a similar thickness and into a circle that is approximately 24cm/9½in in diameter. Place between two sheets of baking paper and place both the pie dish and the pastry in the baking paper in the fridge to chill.
To make the ragù, heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion, celery, carrot and bay leaves for about 5 minutes, or until softened.
Add the minces and sausage meat and cook over a medium heat until sealed, this will take about 10 minutes.
Add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and stir-fry for 1–2 minutes.
Increase the heat, add the wine and cook for 1 minute.
Lower the heat, cover with a lid and cook for about 25 minutes, or until the meat is nicely browned and cooked through. Set aside.
To make the sauce, melt the butter in a small, non-stick saucepan over a medium heat. Remove from the heat and whisk in the flour.
Add a little milk and whisk to a smooth paste. Return the pan to the heat and gradually add the remaining milk, whisking all the time over a medium heat until the mixture thickens slightly and the flour is cooked through.
Remove from the heat. Season with salt and pepper, add the nutmeg and stir through the Parmesan. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 170C/150C Fan/Gas 3.
To make the pasta, bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta for half of the time stated on the packet. Drain well.
Stir the ragù into the béchamel sauce. Add the par-boiled pasta and stir again to combine.
Take the chilled pastry out of the fridge. Fill the lined pie dish with the pasta mixture.
Cover with the pastry lid, crimping the edges together to seal. With any pastry trimmings, cut out pretty shapes to decorate the pie lid, if desired.
Brush the top of the pie with the egg wash and bake for 50–55 minutes, or until golden brown.
Remove from the oven, leave to rest for 5 minutes, then carefully remove from the pie dish.
To serve, dress the salad leaves with the lemon juice and oil. Slice the pie into six pieces and serve on plates with the salad.
