Spaghetti al Forno

 

This is how to make a fantastic baked 'Spaghetti al forno'. So make your best bolognese sauce but add half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon to the ragu, boil your spaghetti till very al dente so if the packet says eleven minutes cook for seven.

Put a layer of the meat sauce over the bottom of large pyrex dish, cover with a layer of  spaghetti. Mix together a tub of ricotta, a pack of mozzarella; finely chopped and freshly grated parmesan, and a pinch of nutmeg. Cover the spaghetti with the cheese mix, finish with more meat sauce.

Bake for thirty minutes or until all cooked through and browned on top - the aim is to have some cheese still melting in the middle, and that your kitchen is smelling like an Italian taverna. Serve with bread, salad and Chianti to friends.

When you make baked spaghetti sometimes the best bits are the slightly burnt bits of pasta at the edges, I remembered that taste as I ate this. I may bake pasta often but not with spaghetti, so that was a childhood memory coming through, long forgotten. I raise a glass to you Mum.