“A mess”, “disorder”, “confusion”, “unclear” are some of the words that come up when you look to translate the word pasticcio. It is used to describe a 17th-century theatrical piece by multiple authors and composers, a sticky situation that is causing you grief, and a baked dish made up of various things.
Writing this on 49th day of Roman quarantine, all these definitions feel applicable, one that is fitting for our lunch and for these thrifty times. My Sicilian partner, Vincenzo, grew up eating pasticci di pasta made by his grandmother in a town called Gela, in the kitchen we now use every summer. He reminds me that, two summers ago, when his late grandmother’s cooker was starting to give up, he sat holding a beer in one hand and, with the other, held down the cooker knob for 20 minutes so we could bake our disorder of rigatoni, tomato sauce, ricotta, aubergine and breadcrumbs.
Vincenzo is also the one who did the costings on this recipe. He sat working out what it costs to make a pasticcio di pasta; peas and bechamel for four. While it is both a necessity and my job to be alert to the cost of food, I feel ashamed to write that I’ve never been so detailed. It is sobering to see the cost of things – not in a vague, more-or-less-I-know-that way, but exactingly – the cost of 50g of butter and two tablespoons of olive oil, one spring onion, a grating of nutmeg, and two-tenths of a packet of peas: precisely how much a meal for four costs (in this case it’s €4.09, so £3.56) – how fortunate we are.
It is a recipe of five parts: cooking the vegetables, making the bechamel, boiling the pasta, assembling, then baking. And there are three things to remember. The first is that you want the bechamel to be slightly more liquid than usual, because it going to finish cooking the pasta: not runny, but soft enough to coat and fall thickly from the back of a spoon.
The second is that the pasta, ideally tubes – rigatoni, penne, macaroni – is going to baked again with bechamel and vegetables, so needs to be only par-boiled until al dente, which is not to mean chalky or crunchy, simply firm to the tooth. Set the timer for two minutes before the end of the recommended cooking time on the packet, so that by the time you have drained it, the consistency is hopefully just right.
The third is – picking up the theme from last weeks’ soup – to remember to season at all stages; tiny pinches that accumulate and result in a well-seasoned final dish.
Actually, there’s a fourth thing, too, and that is to take all the above instructions, quantities and things only as loose suggestions; after all, this is meant to be a good-hearted mess. Use what you have in terms of vegetables, pasta and cheese – especially cheese: this is a perfect place for all those odds and ends – and a tin of tuna might also be nice. Whatever you add, bake it until the top is golden and the edges of the tubes sticking out are toasted and the edges bubbling. Enjoy your disorder.
Baked pasta with peas and bechamel
Prep 15 min
Cook 30 min
Serves 4
Olive oil
2 spring onions, diced
2 courgettes, diced
200g peas
400g pasta tubes (such as rigatoni, penne, macaroni)For the bechamel
50g butter
50g plain flour
600ml whole milk, warm
Salt and pepper
50g parmesan or grana padano
Nutmeg
In a frying pan, cook the onion in some olive oil with a pinch of salt until it is starting to go soft and translucent, add the courgettes and peas, stir, then add a little water, and cook until the vegetables are soft, with just a little oily liquid. Put to one side.
Make the bechamel. Melt the butter in a heavy pan, stir in the flour and cook, stirring, to get a digestive biscuit-coloured roux. Pull the pan from the heat and whisk in the warm milk, and some salt and pepper to taste. Return to the stove, and cook over a low heat, whisking, until the sauce comes to a simmering boil.
Continue cooking for another 10 minutes, always stirring, until the sauce has the consistency of double cream. Add half the parmesan, stir, check the seasoning and add nutmeg to taste.
Cook the pasta as usual in well-salted water, but set the timer two minutes before the end of the recommended cooking time: you want to the pasta to be cooked though, but al dente, because it is going to bake again.
In a large bowl, mix the three elements – vegetables, bechamel and pasta – turn the mixture into a suitable baking dish, top with the remaining cheese and bake at 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6 for 20 minutes, or until the tip is golden and edges are bubbling.
