Pasta ‘nasciata

Anyone who knows the thrillers of Andrea Camilleri around Commissario Montalbano knows that Adelina - the housekeeper - knows how to cook and always leaves a delicacy in the stovepipe for the troubled criminalist. Pasta 'nasciata is one of them. I took my own variant of the dish, also known as pasta al forno, from several different recipes. There are innumerable different variants. The meaning of 'nasciata is also interpreted complex. Most of all, the derivation of incassare = to enclose makes sense to me, with the assumption of a linguistic "finish" of the original word.

Toast the pine nuts in a cast iron pan without fat until they are browned. Remove and set aside.

The Sugo: I have my own method for making the Sugo. Cut the onion into strips. Pour 1 cup of water into a cast iron pan and bring to a boil. Add the onions to the boiling water and stir and reduce the heat. After a short while, fold in the carrot and celery cubes and continue cooking until the water has completely evaporated. Only then add 3 tablespoons of olive oil to the pan. Fry until the onions brown and only now add the garlic and chili peppers.

For the cooked chicken, which will be added next, cut into strips, I opted for smoked turkey breast. Briefly stir in together with the salami and then transfer the mixture from the pan onto a plate.

Heat another 3 tablespoons of olive oil in the emptied pan and fry the minced meat until it takes on color. Then add the red wine and let it boil down completely. Salt and pepper. Now add the vegetables again and heat them up. Fold in the tomatoes and bring to the boil. Add parsley and basil and put the lid on the pan. Stir occasionally and simmer for 30 minutes with the lid on and the last 15 minutes without the lid. The sauce should no longer be runny. Just before the end of the cooking time, add the black olives. Then let it cool down. Mix the roasted pine nuts into the cooling sauce.

Eggplant: wash and remove the stalk. Cut into oblong slices about half a centimeter thick. Now place on kitchen paper and season with salt on both sides. Lie for one or better two hours and let the water soak. Then pat dry. Mix the olive oil with the thyme and a small chopped garlic clove in a cup and brush the aubergines with it. Bake in the oven at 160 ° C for 30 - 35 minutes until the desired browning is achieved.

Meanwhile cook the pasta. Drain two minutes before the end of the cooking time indicated on the package. Mix the pasta into the sauce. Hard boil the eggs.

Oil a baking dish and sprinkle with the breadcrumbs. Now place a layer of aubergine slices on the bottom and pull up along the edge so that the aubergines coat the dish. Now it is also clear why incassare (enclose) makes sense as the godfather of the naming. The next layer is a layer of pasta and sugo mixture. Now sprinkle with cheese. I used Scamorza as a substitute for the caciocavallo (a young cheese made from sheep, which is probably only available in Sicily). Add the sliced ​​eggs.

Another layer of eggplant, sauce and pasta mixture and then cheese again. The last layer should be eggplant.

In the oven at 180 ° C fan oven and baked for 40 minutes. Take out of the oven and let rest for 5 minutes. Then fall onto a sufficiently large plate. I still have to practice on that. However, it does not affect the taste