Fuscilli con Carne Misto -- Baked Fuscilli with Meat

Instructions

Prepare tomato sauce. Add the piece of beef, pork and veal, without browning. Cook the pieces of meat with the sauce. When sauce is complete (2-3 hours) remove the meat and allow to cool.

Using a meat grinder, grind each piece of meat separately into a large bowl. You may have to use a few spoonfuls of tomato sauce to keep the meat grinding easily. When all three pieces are ground, mix them together in the large bowl and regrind the meats to distribute the flavors evenly. Add about 1 cup of sauce to the ground meat. Mix the sauce in well. Add 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese, mix well again.

Cook the Fuscilli according to package directions, except cook for only 3/4 of the time recommended by the manufacturer. Drain well and leave in the colander.

Mix the firm pasta gently with the ground meats mixture. Fold the two together carefully so not to break the pasta. Ladle about a cup of sauce into a large baking pan and spread evenly over the bottom. Carefully add the pasta/meat mixture. Smooth over the top and ladle about a cup of sauce over the top and sprinkle with parmesan.

Bake, covered, at 350°F for about 30-40 minutes. Serve with plenty of sauce and cheese.

Author's Comments

This recipe was my father’s own. I can remember, on special holidays when company would be coming over to help us celebrate, my father would spend a few hours over the sauce pot, and then his old hand held grinder, grinding all the meats. Today I use an electric grinder, taking most of the work out of this dish. Regardless, the results are utterly remarkable. Serve plenty of sauce as the pasta, after baking, may be a bit dry.

From my cookbook: The "Old Country" Italian Cookbook, by Donald J.P. La Marca

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