paccheri pasta

Paccheri with Sausage in creamy tomato sauce is an easy yet elegant Italian pasta dish to make at home!&nbsp; Ready in 30 minutes. Great recipe to make for a family night. Large tubular pasta is smothered in a tomato cream sauce with bell peppers, garlic,&nbsp;and sausage.&nbsp;&nbsp;Paccheri has its origins in Campania, Italy, and is traditionally used in Neapolitan cuisine.&nbsp;

Paccheri Pasta with Sausage

lb Italian sausage (spicy)

tomato sauce (canned)

bell pepper (diced)

garlic (, minced)

basil (dried)

heavy cream

oz paccheri pasta

salt and pepper

In a large skillet, cook sausage on medium heat, until the meat is cooked through. Drain off fat.

Add tomato sauce, diced bell peppers, minced garlic, and basil, bring to a brief boil. Reduce to simmer and add heavy cream.

Cook paccheri pasta al dente. Drain.

Add cooked paccheri to the skillet with the sausage and tomato cream sauce.  Increase the heat, until the sauce simmers.  Season with salt and pepper.

Baked Paccheri Pasta

Paccheri Pasta (Dry Weight)

Pasta Sauce (Reserve about 2 cups for serving.)

Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Tbsp. Olive Oil

Salt

Milk Ricotta

Tbsp. Fresh Basil

Parsley

Tbsp. Honey

Tsp Kosher Salt

Tsp Black Pepper

Lemon

Tbsp. Grated Parmesan

Tbsp. Chopped Parsley

If you plan using a home made pasta sauce, prepare it prior to the rest of the recipe. I recommend this Italian Meat Sauce, This will increase the preparation time noted above.

Prepare Pasta Sauce

Add two tablespoons of kosher salt to a large pot of water, approximately 1½ gallons, and bring to a boil.

Add pasta and simmer for six minutes. Then strain and rinse under cold water to stop cooking. Lightly toss with olive oil and set aside until assembly. Pasta should be slightly undercooked.

Cook Pasta

Prepare ingredients by finely chopping basil and parsley. Use a Microplane grater to harvest zest from a lemon.

In a mixing bowl, add the herbs, seasonings, and honey to one third of the ricotta. Mix this thoroughly before adding the remaining ricotta. Continue to mix until it appears the herbs are evenly dispersed.

Once fully mixed place the Ricotta filling into a pastry bag. This is best done by folding the opening over a pitcher or a small Bain Marie and scooping the filling into the bag. Set this in the refrigerator until assembly.

Prepare Ricotta Filling

In a 3 quart baking dish, add 2 cups of pasta sauce and spread even.

Arrange the cooked Paccheri pasta in the pan vertically. Press the noodles into the sauce. It is okay to leave some small gaps between them for some of the shredded mozzarella Cheese to fall into.

Using a piping bag with a round tip, fill the Paccheri Pasta with the ricotta cheese filling.

Spoon an additional 2 cups of pasta sauce over the stuffed Paccheri.

Finally, top with shredded mozzarella cheese. Try to press some into the gaps between the pasta. The more of the pasta that can be seen, the more crispy bites you will end up with.

Assembly

In a 375 F oven, bake uncovered for 25-35 minutes or until the mozzarella cheese is the level of brown that you prefer.  Rotate pan halfway through the cooking time to get even browning.

Baking

Remove from oven and allow the pasta bake to rest for 5 minutes. Garnish with freshly grated parmesan cheese and chopped parsley.

Serve with the reserved pasta sauce. I recommend placing some sauce on the plate before spooning a portion of the pasta on the plate.

Serving

I was invited to a fundraiser and the caterer served what looked to me like vertical rigatoni.  It just looked so fun and happy.  I decided to try my hand at making it.  I boiled the rigatoni and once I stuffed them, they fell apart while cooking.  So, then I tried stuffing them while still dried and the part that stuck out of the sauce was hard and burned.  Alas, the rigatoni was just too small and I had to solve the problem of how to make this work.  

I happened upon Paccheri noodles at the Italian deli. (never heard of them before). I began to solve the problem of, “to boil or not to boil”.  And after 20 tries I came up with soaking them in cold, salted water just long enough to where they could compress between your two fingers.  The perfect texture to bake and the perfect size to stuff.

Vertical Stuffed Paccheri

lb. Paccheri Pasta shells (De Cecco brand preferred)

whole-milk ricotta cheese

c. grated Romano cheese

parsley (minced)

basil

black pepper

Parmesan (grated)

jars good-quality Arrabbiata Sauce (Rao’s brand

preferred)

mozzarella cheese (grated)

salt

Soak the bag of pasta for 2 to 2.5 hours in cold salted water being sure that all pasta is completely covered.  When the pasta is spongy and able to be compressed between two fingers it is ready to be stuffed.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the ricotta cheese, Romano, parmesan, parsley, basil, salt, pepper and egg till mixed evenly.  Fill a pastry bag with a large star tip with the mixture.

Fill a non-metallic skillet with enough pasta sauce so that it comes about 2/3 up the side of the pan. Place the softened Paccheri into the pan vertically.

Fill the Paccheri tubes with the ricotta mixture all the way to the very top.

Place into the oven for 25 minutes with the pot covered so that the pasta will continue to cook and steam to the perfect texture.

The last 10 minutes sprinkle with Mozzarella cheese and cook with the top off until melted.   Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABY_vazTOGQ

Stuffed Paccheri

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Paccheri Pasta with Sausage

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Top 3 paccheri pasta recipes from across the web

The most viewed paccheri pasta recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Paccheri Pasta with Sausage

Baked Paccheri Pasta

Vertical Stuffed Paccheri

The most viewed paccheri pasta recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine