Baked Mafalda with Fried Peppers is another delight of the harvest season. This recipe is a bit of a mash-up. I’m posting it for posterity, because I don’t want to lose it to my faulty memory. Typically I test recipes over and over, and I let you know where there’s room for creativity, but this recipe is all about using what you have. And right now I have an abundance of tomatoes, eggplant, onions, and peppers. We haven’t finished the Eggplant Confit from last week, so I started with that, then layered in the other vegetables. If I had a zucchini or two it would have been even better. You can see where this is going – layers of sauce, pasta, cheese, and vegetables. It’s lasagna with out the hassle of gluten-free lasagna noodles!
Mafalda is a wonderful gluten-free pasta from jovial. It’s made from brown rice so it does contain a bit of dietary fiber, making this a healthier dish that you’d guess at first blush. And the shape is so fanciful – little flat noodles with ruffled edges. Miniature lasagna noodles! So cute.
Despite what I’ve already said about using what you have, I do recommend including the cottage cheese. If you haven’t tried it already, cottage cheese lends baked pasta dishes a creamy, milkiness that grocery-store ricotta just can’t offer. So please try it. Unless you have fresh ricotta on hand, of course – Fresh Ricotta trumps store-bought ricotta and cottage cheese. If you have fresh ricotta, use that.
Baked Mafalda with Fried Peppers is an uncomplicated summery dish that fills your belly. I’m sorry that you had to turn on the oven though. Why not add a crispy side salad with a vinaigrette, pour a glass of dry rosé, and head out to the picnic table to enjoy what’s left of the summer?
Baked Mafalda with Fried Peppers
Ingredients
- 1 quart Fra Diavolo sauce, or marinara with anchovies
- 1 12 ounce box of jovial gluten-free mafalda
- 1 pound mix of mild peppers (green and colorful bell peppers, shishito, pasillo)
- ½ pint eggplant confit
- 6 baby red onions
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- 2 cups shredded aged mozzarella
- 1 handful basil leaves
Instructions
- Par-boil the pasta – Drop the pasta into briskly boiling, salted water, and boil for seven minutes, stirring occasionally. Seven minutes is two minutes shy of the package directions, because you'll be baking the pasta with the vegetables and sauce.
- Cook the veg – Soften the eggplant confit in a fairly large skillet on medium high heat, breaking up any large eggplant slices into bite-sized pieces. Skin the onions and slice them in half. Place them cut side down in the confit oil. Cook until the onions begin to sizzle. Core and slice the peppers (no need to core shishitos), and add them to the skillet. Cook until all of the veg is soft and languid.
- Layer into the baking dish – Pour just a bit of the tomato sauce on the bottom of the dish, then dump in 2/3 of the pasta. Dot the pasta with cottage cheese, then cover with a layer of shredded mozzarella. Salt and pepper generously. Pour 2/3 of the vegetables and sauce into the dish and spread across. Sprinkle a scant layer of mozzarella. Stir the rest of the pasta into the rest of the sauce and spread across the top, then cover it with one more scant layer of cheese. Poke it around a bit so pieces of the pasta are sticking up. You want the cheese and the pasta on the top to get a bit dark and crunchy.
- Bake – Bake, covered, in a 350℉ oven for thirty minutes. Then turn up the heat to 400℉, remove the cover, and bake for another ten minutes, or until nicely browned and bubbly. Let rest for at least fifteen minutes. Chiffonade the basil and scatter across the top of the dish, and serve.
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