Medium difficulty – Preparation 40 minutes – Cooking 30 minutes
Serves 4
300 g of paccheri | A kilo of long violet aubergines | 200 g of fior di latte | 200 g of smoked provola | 100 g of grated Parmesan cheese | 300 g of bechamel | 10/15 basil leaves | 400 g of fresh cherry tomatoes | A clove of garlic | Extra virgin olive oil to taste | Butter
1. We cut the provola and the fior di latte into cubes and let them dry on a plate lined with paper towels.
2. We wash and peel the aubergines. We leave a part of the peel, if we want their flavor to be more intense. Cut them into cubes of about a couple of centimeters, sprinkle them with coarse salt and let them drain for an hour in a colander (if we love the bitter taste of the aubergines, we can skip this phase).
3. We wash the cubes very well under running water, wring them out and wash them once more.
4. We set the oven to 180 ° C static function. Pour plenty of oil into a pan and heat over medium heat. Add the aubergines and cook them until they are golden brown on the outside and soft on the inside.
5. We spread a sheet of absorbent paper on a tray and pour over the aubergines, in order to eliminate the excess oil.
6. Divide the aubergines into three parts and whisk two thirds together with the béchamel. We roughly chop the basil and add it to the mixture.
7. Add the chopped provola and fior di latte cubes to the mince and the aubergines left over.
8. Cook the paccheri in a pan with plenty of salted water and drain them halfway through cooking.
9. We will make the paccheri with the aubergine mixture and place them on a well buttered baking dish.
10. We blend raw tomatoes together with garlic and oil. Pour the sauce over the paccheri.
11. Insert the baking dish in the already heated oven and leave the paccheri to cook for about 15 minutes. When finished, sprinkle them with grated Parmesan and bring them to the table.