Sorrento style pasta baked in a stringy oven

Pasta alla Sorrentina, typical of the Campania tradition, is a creamy and stringy first course to be savored on Sundays with those you love!

Italy is a country that boasts a large amount of typical products depending on the territory: in this case Campania offers you a genuine and tasty first course to share with your family. Pasta alla Sorrentina is inspired by the original Neapolitan recipe which involves the use of gnocchi: the combination of tomato sauce and stringy mozzarella enhances all the typicality of the territory

Cooking this dish in the oven will make the pasta crunchy thanks to the gratin of the parmesan on the surface, but the real secret lies in the preparation of an excellent Sorrento sauce: use a full-bodied and tasty tomato puree to be enriched with oil, garlic and basil .

Let’s go and prepare our penne alla sorrentina!

Preparation of the recipe of the Sorrento pasta in the oven

1. Start preparing the sauce by pouring a drizzle of oil into the pan and frying a clove of garlic. Remove it when it is golden.
2. Pour the tomato puree and add two basil leaves, a pinch of salt and mix. Cook over low heat for 30 minutes with the lid closed.
3. Put a pot of salted water on the heat and when it comes to a boil, cook the pasta al dente .
4. Meanwhile, cut the mozzarella into cubes and grate the cheese.
5. Drain the pasta directly into the saucepan with the sauce and mix well.
6. Pour half the pasta into a baking dish, add half the mozzarella and a sprinkle of parmesan, and repeat the process a second time.
7. Bake in a preheated static oven at 200 ° C for 15/20 minutes .
8. Remove from the oven and enjoy the hot dish!

Variations and tips for Sorrento style pasta

This recipe can also be prepared with other pasta shapes , such as fusilli, paccheri or spaghetti.

Replace the parmesan with parmesan or provola according to your tastes. Instead, you can replace the tomato sauce with meat sauce or enrich it with crumbled sausage . Secret: if the sauce is too acidic, add a teaspoon of sugar during cooking.

For the variant in the pan, mix the pasta and cover it with the mozzarella on the surface to prevent it from sticking to the base.

storage

Keep the pasta alla Sorrentina au gratin in the oven by placing it in the fridge: the next day if heated it will be doubly good!

If you like creamy and stringy first courses, try the Sicilian pasta recipe!