A baked Paccheri dish for when you have nothing better to do in your life!

Here’s one of those dishes that takes half a lifetime to prepare and only 20 minutes to eat, a bit like a lasagne where you’ve committed what feels like an eternity and sacrificed your soul for what amounts to nothing more than a dish of pasta, cheese and meat. Baked Paccheri – You slice and chop and sweat and fry and reduce and deglaze and simmer and par-boil and craft and create. You offer passion and love. You have a vision. You get lost in dreams of caressing the Amalfi coast in an Alfa Romeo while Dalla’s Caruso wafts over you like a Sirocco off the warm Mediterranean Sea, drenching you in love and passion and everything that’s so beautifully Italian.

Then suddenly, reality smashes back into your life like a slap round the face with a wet haddock. There’s a burning smell coming from the oven and the smoke alarm’s gone off. You put your wine glass down carefully and then go smash that sumbitch alarm off the ceiling with your meat tenderiser because you can’t figure out how to just switch the effing thing off. Why can’t the manufacturers put a ‘My house isn’t really on fire’ button on the f****ng things?

Anyway, what eventually emerged from the flaming Bosch induced inferno that shattered my dreams of La Dolce Vita turned out reasonably well, a kind of vertical Cannelloni type thing. Quite why I thought upright Cannelloni would be a good idea I’ll never know, but it was, and I’ll definitely do it again… It’s so much more than just pasta, cheese and meat.
Par boil some Paccheri and drive yourself insane trying to stand the slippery little sh*tes upright in a dish to stuff them with a ragu you’ve slaved over all afternoon. Soften some baby sweet peppers in the oven, stuff them too and attempt to randomly insert them in amongst the Paccheri. Top them all off with lumps of Mozzarella, a drizzle of oil and bake in a hot oven.
And because I was in a particularly masochistic mood this afternoon, I stuffed baby San Marzano tomatoes with a basil leaf, a drop of thick, gooey Balsamic vinegar, Mozzarella and then wrapped them in Pancetta. Bake with the Paccheri.
Plate up, drink wine and kiss someone.
Was it all worth it? Yes,,, No,,,, Maybe,,, Kind of,,,, Uhhh,,,,
Of course it was.

Buon appetito

Things you’ll need for a totally messed up Saturday afternoon….

For the Ragu…

  • Soffritto – Carrot, Celery, Onion.
  • Meat of your choice – I used 300g minced Venison plus 2 Pork Sausages
  • Much Wine
  • Seasoning

For the rest…

  • 15-20 Paccheri
  • 2 Balls Mozzarella
  • 7 or 8 Baby Sweet Peppers
  • Half a dozen baby San Marzano
  • 6 Slices Pancetta
  • Basil & Herbs & stuff.
  • Time (Not Thyme)
  • Patience of an Angel.