Follow us

Recipes

Caccavelle Sorrento style


Caccavelle Sorrento style

Caccavelle alla Sorrentina are a typical Campania product, a particular pasta to be filled with sauce and mozzarella and cooked in the oven.

With this simple recipe we can understand how to prepare Sorrento-style caccavelle in our kitchen. It is a baked first course, very tasty and substantial, which comes from the gastronomic tradition of Campania. The name is due to the particular paste used to compose it; caccavelle consist of a sort of very large shells – the most traditional ones are 9 cm long – typical of the city of Gragnano .

In the original recipe, they are boiled and filled with ragĂą, mozzarella, minced meat and ricotta . The final cooking must be done in the oven and, as tradition dictates, in earthenware pans. With stringy mozzarella (better if buffalo) and enriched with minced meat, this first course is so delicious that you can't wait to taste it.

Mozzarella
Mozzarella

Preparation

How to prepare the Sorrento style caccavelle recipe

1

To begin, season the sauce. Take a pan with a non-stick bottom and pour 3 tablespoons of olive oil . Add a chopped onion and cook it on the stove for just under 10 minutes. Once finished, pour in the tomato sauce and add salt . Cook for another 10 minutes over low heat, breaking up the basil leaves. The sauce must remain quite fluid.

2

In the meantime, chop the vegetables: celery , carrot and the other onion . Put everything in a pan, slowly add 3 tablespoons of olive oil ; then, brown over a low heat.

3

Once done, shell the sausage and add it to the pan, together with the other minced meat . Let the meat brown and stir continuously with a wooden spoon, breaking it up further. When the meat appears browned, add the red wine . After the liquid evaporates, add salt and pepper and, when it is ready, turn off the heat.

4

When the two ragĂą are ready, move on to the pasta. Bring a pan full of salted water to the boil and immerse the caccavelle in it. Boil them for 15 minutes, keeping the boil gentle. Once cooked, drain them and be careful to eliminate the water from inside them; place them on a plate.

5

In the meantime, pour the ricotta into a container and crumble it with a spoon; separately, cut the mozzarella into cubes.

6

Take the four terrines and fill each with a ladle of tomato sauce, then place a caccavella in the centre. Fill each shell with half a ladle of tomato sauce, 50 g of ricotta (about 3 tablespoons), 1/4 of the white ragĂą and 1/4 of the total quantity of mozzarella pieces. Cover each caccavella with more tomato sauce, then sprinkle a handful of grated parmesan.

7

Bake in the oven at 200°C for 30-40 minutes . Once finished, let cool and serve immediately!

If you can't find caccavelle you can make the recipe using a large pasta shape . Easier to find are, for example, shells and giant pipes. In this case, however, we advise you to mix sauce, ragĂą, ricotta and bechamel before filling the pasta in order to make less effort.

With a completely different but equally genuine taste, there is the more traditional Sorrento pasta .

Conservation

Caccavelle alla Sorrentina are a traditional first course from Campania that conquers everyone. They are so good that it will be impossible not to finish the whole dish; if there is any leftover, you can keep it for just a few hours in the earthenware pan and reheat it for the evening, because conservation is not recommended.

Read also
Sorrento style gnocchi: a delicious classic of Italian cuisine

Riproduzione riservata © - WT