A classic of Neapolitan cooking, made with hand-broken ziti, a rich sauce, and generations of tradition behind it. Baking brings the pasta, ragù, and cheese together in a hearty dish made to be placed in the middle of the table and shared.
Finely chop the onion and cook it gently in a large, heavy-bottomed pot with the extra virgin olive oil and lard until softened. Add the beef and pork ribs and brown them slowly, turning until nicely colored on all sides. Pour in the red wine and let the alcohol cook off.
Add the tomato paste and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring it into the meat and onions. Pour in the passata and add a few basil leaves. Bring the sauce just to a simmer, then turn the heat down as low as possible and cook for about 3–4 hours, with the lid slightly ajar.
The ragù should barely bubble. In Naples, this slow, gentle simmer is known as “pippiare”: you want to see only the occasional small bubble breaking the surface, never a vigorous boil. Check the sauce from time to time and add a little hot water as needed if it begins to reduce too much. By the end, the ragù should be rich and concentrated while still leaving you with plenty of sauce for both coating the pasta and layering the dish.
Soak the bread in a little water, then squeeze it thoroughly and place it in a bowl with the ground meat, egg, Parmigiano, chopped parsley, salt, and black pepper. Mix gently with your hands just until combined; overworking the mixture can make the meatballs firm rather than tender.
Shape the mixture into tiny meatballs, roughly the size of a hazelnut. Heat the frying oil and cook them in batches, turning as needed until evenly golden. Transfer them to paper towels to drain and set aside.
Hard-boil the 2 eggs, cool them in water, peel them, and cut them into wedges or smaller pieces. Cut the provola into cubes. If you're using fiordilatte mozzarella instead, drain it well ahead of time so it releases as much excess moisture as possible before going into the pasta.
Take the long ziti and break them by hand into shorter pieces. Cook them in a large pot of well-salted boiling water and drain them very al dente, a few minutes before the cooking time given on the package. They'll finish cooking in the oven.
Once the ragù is ready, remove the pieces of meat and set them aside. Spoon some of the sauce over the drained ziti, add a little Parmigiano, and toss well. Be generous with the sauce, but don't use all of it—you'll need the rest for layering the pasta.
Spread a thin layer of ragù over the bottom of the baking dish, then add a layer of ziti. Scatter over some of the tiny meatballs, hard-boiled egg, provola, and Parmigiano. Continue layering until all the ingredients have been used, finishing with ragù, provola, and a generous sprinkling of grated Parmigiano.
Bake in a preheated 200°C / 400°F conventional oven for about 25–30 minutes. The ziti are ready when everything is piping hot, the cheese has melted, and the top is golden and lightly crisp. If you'd like a little more browning, switch on the broiler/grill for the last few minutes, keeping a close eye on the surface.
Remove the ziti from the oven and let them rest for about 10 minutes before serving. This gives the sauce and layers time to settle, making it much easier to serve neat portions.
Servings 4
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily value may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
For the right texture, cook the ziti until very al dente. They'll continue cooking in the oven, so fully cooking them beforehand can leave the finished pasta too soft.
If you're using fiordilatte instead of provola, cut it ahead of time and let it drain thoroughly. Mozzarella that still contains too much whey can release excess liquid into the baking dish and make the bottom watery.
The ragù can be made a day ahead. Let it cool before refrigerating it, then reheat it when you're ready to assemble the dish. Besides making the recipe easier to manage, an overnight rest gives the flavors even more time to develop.
The meat used to make the ragù doesn't go into the baked ziti. Once cooked, set it aside and serve it separately as a main course, as is traditional with Neapolitan ragù.
Leftover baked ziti can be kept, well covered, in the refrigerator for 2–3 days. Reheat in the oven until piping hot all the way through.
Ziti are deeply rooted in the food traditions of Southern Italy and are particularly associated with Neapolitan cooking. Made from durum wheat semolina, traditional ziti are long—around 25 centimeters (10 inches)—smooth, hollow tubes. They look a little like bucatini at first glance, but are noticeably wider.
In Naples and other parts of Southern Italy, it's common to buy ziti long and break them into shorter pieces by hand before cooking. A few pieces are snapped at a time, inevitably leaving behind some smaller shards of pasta as they break.
One of the best-known stories surrounding ziti comes from this simple kitchen ritual. According to local tradition, on Sunday mornings the sound of ziti being snapped by hand could once be heard coming from homes along the streets and alleyways of Naples as families began preparing lunch. It's more a piece of culinary folklore than a documented historical fact, but it captures just how closely this pasta became associated with cooking at home and the Sunday family meal.
The name itself comes from Neapolitan. “Zito” and “zita” mean boyfriend and girlfriend and can also refer specifically to a bridegroom and bride-to-be.
Tradition links the name of the pasta to wedding feasts, where ziti were once served to guests. This association with ziti—the betrothed couple—is said to be how the pasta got its name.
Ziti were also well suited to the rich dishes served for special occasions. Their hollow shape catches the thick, full-bodied sauces of Neapolitan cooking, especially ragù. When baked, the sauce works its way inside and around the pasta while the other ingredients settle between the layers, creating one of the most substantial dishes of Neapolitan home cooking.