Pasticcio is an easy to make baked pasta dish. It is often made with bolognese or other tomato sauces.  I thought I would take advantage of a wonderful mushroom sauce that I use in various dishes. It is rich and the thick slices of mushroom are meaty and delicious.

This recipe uses the rich mushroom and tomato sauce thickly spread between layers of penne pasta, dusted with Parmesan cheese and covered with beaten eggs.  Taking time to lay the pasta evenly makes the pasticcio easy to cut and serve.

The resulting pasta bake, sliced into servings makes a satisfying and enjoyable lunch, served with a fresh garden salad.

It can be made ahead and also keeps well frozen in portions for a later meals.

Penne and Mushroom Pasticcio

Ingredients:

Mushroom Sauce:

• 450g Button mushrooms, sliced
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 large clove of garlic, minced
• 11/2 Tblsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 knob of butter
• 1 can of peeled tomatoes
• 1 small bunch of parsley, finely chopped
• 1 sprig of rosemary, finely chopped
• 1 small carrot cut into slices
• Home made chicken or vegetable stock
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pasticcio:

• Approx 300g Barilla Penne Lisce Pasta
• 3 x700g Eggs
• Grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 Tblsp milk
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt

Method:

Mushroom Sauce:

1. In a heavy based saucepan, heat Extra Virgin Olive Oil and a small knob of butter
2. When the butter foams add the onion and cook until transparent, about 8 minutes
3. Add the chopped garlic and cook for a minutes
4. Stir in the tomatoes
5. Add the sliced mushrooms, parsley, celery, rosemary and carrot chunks
6. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper
7. Cover with stock and simmer for 45 minutes or until the sauce thickens and the carrots are tender
8. When the carrots are cooked use a fork to crush them and stir through the sauce
9. Set aside to cool if making ahead for another day

Assembling the Pasticcio

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 C
2. Re-heat mushroom sauce and set aside
3. Select a deep rectangular casserole dish (I have used a Pyrex loaf pan 22 cm x 12 cm)  for the ingredients in this recipe
4. Butter and line the casserole with baking paper
5. Check the seasoning of the mushroom sauce.
6. Cook the pasta for 10 minutes in boiling salted water then strain well, running cold water over it as you strain, to cool it so that the pasta can be handled.
7. Spoon some mushroom sauce over the bottom of the casserole
8. Lay the pasta close together end to end lengthwise over the mushroom sauce in the casserole, covering the whole length.
9. Spoon more sauce over the pasta making sure to put some into the corners
10. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the whole layer.
11. Grind some black pepper over the top.
12. Make another layer of penne
13. Continue layering in this way till the casserole is filled, ending with sauce covered with cheese.
14. Lightly beat the 3 eggs till well combined and add a little milk to the mixture.
15. Spoon this over the top of the pasta and use a skewer to help ease the egg to penetrate through the layers. Go over the whole casserole this way till the egg has penetrated.
16. Grind some black pepper over the top and place the pasticcio into the pre- heated oven.
17. Bake for 30 minutes and then check the colour of the pasticcio. If it is golden brown to your liking place a sheet of foil loosely over the casserole and bake for a further 10 minutes.
18. When well browned and cooked remove the casserole and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes to allow the pasticcio to firm for serving
19. Remove from the baking dish and slice to serve
20. Serve with a green garden salad or other green vegetables of your choice and crusty bread