Yotam Ottolenghi

Joining delicious. with his new monthly column, Yotam Ottolenghi shares the secrets to his celebrated cooking, with top-notch ingredients and big flavours. First up, a hearty baked pasta with a spicy twist.

Our new columnist brings simple ingredients with impressive flavours.

ONE-PAN PASTA WITH HARISSA BOLOGNESE SERVES 6-8

680g beef mince, at least

15 per cent fat 450g pork mince 1/ 3 cup (95g) tomato paste 1/4 cup (70g) harissa paste 2 tbs Worcestershire sauce 1 tbs ground cumin 1 tbs ground coriander

1/ 3 cup (80ml) olive oil 60g parmesan, finely grated 60g Pecorino Romano,

finely grated 1 carrot, peeled, halved lengthwise,

sliced 1 small onion, roughly chopped 2 large roma tomatoes, roughly chopped 4 garlic cloves, peeled,

roughly chopped 3 cups (750ml) chicken stock 100ml double cream 225g dried manicotti or cannelloni pasta, roughly chopped in half, crosswise 1/4 cup firmly packed chopped parsley, plus extra to serve

Preheat oven to 245°C. Place the beef mince, pork mince, tomato paste, harissa, Worcestershire sauce, cumin and ground coriander in a large roasting pan about 38cm x 23cm in size, with 1/4 cup of the oil, two-thirds of the parmesan, two-thirds of the pecorino, 13/ 4 tsp salt flakes and plenty of pepper.

Place the carrot, onion, tomato and garlic in a food processor and blitz until finely chopped. Add to the beef mixture and mix to combine. Transfer to the oven and bake for 25 minutes or until browned on top and sizzling. Reduce temperature to 190°C.

Use a fork to break the meat apart thoroughly, stirring it into the liquid that has been produced. Pour the chicken stock and cream on top of the meat mixture, then add the pasta. Stir the pasta into the sauce until thoroughly coated; you want to get all of the pasta wet so it doesn’t burn. Push as much of the pasta under the surface of the sauce as possible (you won’t be able to submerge it all).

Bake, stirring halfway through cooking, for 25 minutes or until pasta is tender.

Remove pasta bake from the oven, stir in the parsley, sprinkle with the remaining 20g parmesan and pecorino and drizzle with the remaining 1 tbs oil. Bake for 8 minutes or until the top is crisp in parts and beginning to brown. Sprinkle with extra parsley and set aside for 10 minutes to cool slightly, so the sauce soaks in, before serving.