Palermo Palermo
She’s keeping me there
As my heart shoots a flare in the sky
And as the flames in the air blow I’m leavin’ I swear
Though I can’t kiss Palermo goodbye
For “Palermo”, I wanted a dish you could linger over. ‘Ncasciata is a layered baked pasta dish wrapped in eggplant. It’s not difficult to assemble, but definitely takes time (As you can see in the photo, I lost the light when this took longer than I expected). After it’s out of the oven, you need to let it rest before you take it out of its mold. It’s kind of heavy, so you’ll probably want an digestif after you’re done and to take a stroll. This recipe makes an enormous amount of food so you’ll be eating it for lunch too. You may say you’re finished, but you can’t kiss this ‘ncasciata goodbye.
Makes about 6 servings
For the sauce:
1 lb ground pork
1 onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 28oz can whole peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand
1 handful basil leaves
1/2 cup red wine
Salt and Pepper to taste
For the Eggplant
5 Japanese eggplants
Olive oil
salt
1 lb penne or any short tubular pasta
2 hard boiled eggs, sliced
1/4 lb mortadella
8 oz shredded mozzarella or provolone cheese
2 oz grated pecorino
breadcrumbs
Spray oil or butter for your cooking vessel
To make your sauce:
Brown the pork in a stock pot. Once the fat rendered, remove the meat with a slotted spoon. Saute the onions and garlic in the rendered pork fat until translucent. Add the canned tomatoes, red wine, and basil. Add back in the pork and bring the whole thing to simmer. Taste and add salt and pepper.
For the eggplant
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line three baking trays with parchment paper.
Using a mandolin, slice the eggplant lengthwise into pieces 1/4 inch thick. lay them out on your trays in a single layer. Drizzle both sides of the eggplant pieces with olive oil and salt. Bake for seven minutes, flip the pieces, bake for another 7 minutes. Set aside.
For the Pasta
Boil a large pot of salted water. Cook your pasta for 3 minutes less than the recommended cooking time. Drain.
To assemble
Mix your cooked pasta with your sauce.
Using a deep casserole dish or stainless steel mixing bowl, spray with your oil or butter well. Add your breadcrumbs and shake them around until the inside of your cooking vessel is coated. Shake out any remaining crumbs. Line the inside of the vessel with slices of eggplant, overlapping slightly.
Scoop about a third of your pasta and sauce into the dish. In this order, top with one of the hard boiled eggs, some of the remaining eggplant slices, a layer of mortadella, and half of the mozzarella. Repeat the layer. For your last layer, add the last of your pasta, any remaining eggplant, and the pecorino.
Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
Once out of the oven, allow to rest for 15 minutes.
Carefully flip your cooking vessel onto a large plate or platter. Admire its beauty and slice.