benazir's blog

Is It Either Pasta Al Forno Or Baked Ziti?

I follow an Italian chef on Instagram named Gianncarlo. His dishes makes me drool and I mean hungry, really hungry. He is good friends with British chef Jamie Oliver. He made pasta al forno in a reel and his looked delicious I wanted to eat the screen.

There are two ways you can do this Either in the oven or instant pot save only the pasta gets. cooked on stovetop. I just had a damned misshap on my page because it did not want to save and I had to refresh my page and whatever I had written was wiped clean and I am so pissed off. Don’t mind m because I wanted to bring some yummy content for you to enjoy and also as a reminder of what I put in this dish for myself.

I use Bonza chickpea pasta always because it has higher fiber and lower carbs then regular pasta. Boil 1 gallon or 4 liters of water in a huge pot on high heat for making the pasta according to package directions. Add 1 pinch of pink salt and 1 tsp of olive oil to the pasta water before adding pasta then drain and rinse then put back in the pot and cover after you turn the stove off. You can use any type of pasta except lasagna noodles. By the way we have a lasagna recipe here on this very blog. This one is very different.

Now there are two links I am going to post. Smoked Italian Sausage Either Hot And Or Sweet If you want do this in advance if you are going to smoke these first or you can use right away loose if you want. Also you can make Paneer (Cheese) if you are going to make baked ziti instead of pasta al forno. They are both made in the oven. Italian Meatballs also is another option if you want to go this route. Here you do not have to make the sauce because only meatballs will do just fine.

I used a package of zabiha turkey bacon. You can use beef too or use 1 lb or 1 kg of beef, chicken, turkey, lamb, goat or veal mince. Even pieces of chicken beef or veal can be used as well if you are doing the meat eater version.

You can also do a vegetarian version by using 1 container of white button, cremini or oyster mushrooms or you can add 4 portobello mushroom caps only, either 1 large eggplant or 8 baby eggplants, 2 zucchinis or Italian yellow squash, 1 bag of frozen artichoke hearts, 1 bell pepper of any color or 5 mini sweet peppers, 1 cup of either fresh or frozen spinach and 1 frozen or fresh tomato all get rough chopped. This will make any vegan or vegetarian happy. For Omnivores you can mix both meat and veg like I did. Do not forget to wash off your vegetables and your protein of choice before you use them.

Add 1 pinch of peppercorns and 1 small piece of cinnamon stick in mortar and pestle to grind and set aside. Add 1/4 cup of olive oil to a pot on high heat. Add 1 onion or shallot in half moon pieces, 4 cloves of garlic rough chopped, add the veg of choice which I added white button mushrooms, 1 large orange bell pepper, the baby eggplants then added my zabiha halal turkey bacon and frozen red tomato.

Stir and add 3 dashes of balsamic vinegar, the contents of the mortar and pestle, 1 pinch each of thyme, oregano, parsley, sage, marjoram, rosemary, 2 bay leaves, 1 pinch of either vegtea seasoning, seasoned salt, pink salt, kosher salt, sea salt and again stir. Add 1 can of tomato paste and 3 cups of water and let cook for 1/2 hour on low heat.

Turn the oven on to 400F or 200C and take a roasting pan out and add again 1 oz of olive oil to it and begin layering sauce and pasta alternatively for pasta al forno only to top with cheese at the top. For baked ziti start with sauce and some of my homemade paneer or buy 1 small container of ricotta cheese if you do not want to go through all of that bother then add the cooked pasta and repeat until there is nothing left. both gets topped with either mozzarella, provolone that is sharp, regular or medium. They come smoked too and it is delicious. You can also use fontina, asiago or even gorganzola.

For vegans you can use the Dayia brand provolone cheese and I seen a vegan parmasean cheese too and I have had it before and it doesn’t taste bad at all. Bake for 20 minutes and the cheese should be bubbling.

Since it is hot and I took the easy way out as a dump and go method by slow cooking everything except the cheese and pasta in my instant pot for 3 1/2 hours. Then I opened it being careful enough not to scald myself. I added the pasta to the instant pot itself carefully. I would add either my homemade paneer or 1 small container of ricotta cheese if I wanted baked ziti but I wanted pasta al forno so I just Topped with the type of cheese I wanted and it was the fresh mozarella. Put the air fry lid on top for 376 for 20 minutes and it is done and ready to consume. Great to have with caprise salad or even cucumber salad too.

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