Penne alla Crudaiola Baked

This one is so easy to make that you will surprise yourselves, and what's great about it, is that you can eat it hot, warm or even cold. Now this isn't going to be a traditional recipe with measurements because I learned it that way. It's a variation to a pasta dish called La Pasta alla Crudaiola. And beneath I will add the recipe for the original dish--difference between this and that one is, one is baked the other is raw,(except for the pasta of course--might be a bit toooo crunchy that way--hahahaha) Hope you like it!

 You'll need tomatoes, basil, garlic(fresh or powdered),penne pasta(I think they are called quills in the states),breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, olive oil.

**Now I used a lot of cherry tomatoes, because I was cooking for 8 people, but you can use regular juicy tomatoes, the larger ones about 7 or 8 for a smaller portion. Basically you want lots of diced tomatoes because you will need to line the bottom of baking pan and then cover the top of the pasta as well.**Dice the tomatoes and place in a bowl as you see in the photos, Then add about a fist full of fresh basil leaves,

either whole or cut up into pieces. Add 1 clove minced garlic or use powdered to taste, add salt and pepper, then add your oil, you want enough to make it real wet. Otherwise when the pasta bakes it will be too dry.Let it set while you start cooking the pasta, so the flavors start blending together, you can even do this an hr ahead, and leave in the refrigerator. 

**As you can see with this pic (#4),I drizzled some oil on the bottom just enough to coat and then I lined the bottom of a large deep dish baking pan with 1/2 of my tomato mixture. 

**Then toss in your cooked pasta, BUT here's the trick, the pasta has to be 1/4 to 1/2 cooked, let's say still on the raw side, because it will finish cooking in the oven.

**Put the rest of the tomatoes and juices on top and give it a good stir. Especially from the bottom to get all the juices well mixed throughout the pasta.

**Now just sprinkle breadcrumbs to coat and drizzle a little oil over.

**Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350° for about 20 to 30 mins. HINT- for the last 5 mins put it under broiler to toast those breadcrumbs to a golden color if you wish, makes the top layer a little crunchy.


That's all there is to it, the finished dish will look like the next to last photo if you didn't toast and a shade darker than the last pic if you did.You want to be able to taste the flavors of the tomatoes and especially the basil.

**VARIATION- Sprinkle grated cheese ,use a nice heavy hand, on the pasta before the bread crumbs and then drizzle oil, or you can add cheese when you serve the dish.

**Original Crudaiola-- Basically the original crudaiola is the same procedure except that the pasta must be cooked through to al dente or to the level that you like your pasta. Drain and toss with the tomato mixture, stir and serve. The heat from the pasta will warm up tomatoes. This is one of our summer dishes, its warm because of the pasta and tastes great on the cooler side.

Here is another variation that I prefer because I am not too keen on that much raw basil when I would make the original crudaiola --too strong of a taste for me, but do not mind it if its cooked through. Instead of using basil leaves use a few fistfuls of arugula leaves. This too has a strong flavor but for me personally I prefer it. Try both.

Buon Appetito!!

Pizza di Patate

Ingredients

boiled potato

mashed potato

sauteed onion celery and tomatoes

sauteeing ground beef

oil coated glass pie pan

breadcrumb coated pie pan

 You'll need as you see in photo 1,

• Breadcrumbs
• 2 or 3 dried tomatoes (the ones in spiced oil)
• 1 small celery stalk
• 1 onion
• 1 medium - large potato
• 1 egg beaten
• Ground beef, about size of a baseball
• salt and pepper to taste, even cayenne pepper if you prefer

---Take the potato/s pierce, pop in microwave, cook on high about 7-10 minute depending on the size. When tender,peel under cool running water, mash in a medium sized bowl,(we have a utensil for mashing as seen in photo 2, and gives result as seen in photo 3)

---In a fry pan with some olive oil add minced tomato,celery and onion, (I have one of those small electric grinders that I use to mince things)and saute until tender (photo 4)

---Then add the ground beef and cook that thru along with your veggies, adding salt and pepper to taste (photo 5) let cool til warm

Now you are ready to pull everything together. In the medium sized bowl where you have the mashed potato, add the beef mixture, beaten egg and mix,use your hands, kneading throughout to get everything well mixed.
(Before adding egg, taste the mixture and see how it goes for salt, add additional if needed.)
In a pie pan or even deep dish pie pan, drizzle oil and coat, sprinkle enough breadcrumbs to coat as well, even the sides.
Now place the mixture in the pie pan and spread out with your hands, make sure its pretty even in thickness all around.
Then sprinkle with breadcrumbs on the surface to give a light coating, sprinkle on grated parmesean cheese (this is optional), also a light coating here and then drizzle some olive oil over it all, not alot, just enough to keep crumbs from drying out.
Bake in a 350°oven for about 20-30mins til lightly browned.
Since everything is already cooked you just need the time to cook thru the egg and heat up all the rest.

Serve warm, but you can also eat it cold---up to you.
Buon apettito!

*****VARIATION
You can do a simpler version of this by using just potatoes, cooked ham,egg and grated cheese, salt and pepper. Just mash potato, mix in shredded ham, add about a fistfull of grated cheese, one egg,salt and pepper, mix and spread in oil and crumbs coated pan, finish off with just the sprinkling of crumbs and oil and bake. This version is the base recipe for pizza di patate. The one I made is a grownup version. If you want to add zest you can also add either powdered garlic or onion and add some minced parsley(or dried).

Play around with this recipe, instead of beef add tuna, omit dried tomatoes. The sky is the limt. Enjoy