Bucatini Pesto Casserole

My Number One Fan developed an aversion to pesto sauce during some rather onerous medical treatments over a decade ago.  It seems that a pesto chicken sandwich from a local sandwich shop became negative reinforcement to the chemical onslaught of chemotherapy.  This caused physical revulsion at even the aroma of pesto, which was interesting because she still enjoyed the flavor and scent of basil, the predominate ingredient in pesto, along with garlic, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese and olive oil.

Nevertheless, I could relate.  When I was around 10-years old, I had the mumps.  I couldn't eat anything for days, but I could drink root beer.  And I did; cans and cans of it.  Over a half-century later and I cannot stand the taste or aroma of root beer. 

Unlike me, however, My Number One Fan eventually lost her disfavor to pesto and brought me a recipe for Pesto Bacatini Pie from the howsweeteats website.  Bucatini Pie sounds very familiar to a similar recipe in this blog, Capellini Pie found here, which was a modification to the popular '50s-'60s recipe, Spaghetti Pie. But it seems bucatini pie, with or without pesto, is a current culinary rage.  

Bucatini is an interesting pasta taking on attributes of both macaroni and spaghetti.  One could describe it as spaghetti with a hole through the center of it and that would be approximately correct, but it is a thicker, heartier pasta, and therefore able to stand up (literally) to the two-step cooking process of being boiled, then baked. I find it amusing that apparently in 2020 during the CoVid lock-downs, bucatini became scarce because people were rather stupidly buying it as a substitute for the unavailability of drinking straws. Yes, really.

The thing about all bucatini pie recipes that I've seen on the Internet is that they require the use of a springform pan.  Bucatini is such a hearty pasta that after baking, the springform pan can be removed and what you have is really more of a bucatini cake, standing 3-4 inches tall.

I don't have a springform pan and even if I did, I don't think I would have used it.  For one thing, the initial mixture is a little soupy.  The liquid will be thoroughly absorbed during the baking process, but until that happens, the howsweeteats blogger suggested using aluminum foil to keep the liquid from leaking out of the bottom of the springform cake pan.

This all seemed silly to me, and suggested that the visual appeal of the recipe was more important to the blogger than was the success of the dish in terms of taste and texture.  So, I have re-named this recipe as a Bucatini Pesto Casserole because I used a rounded 11" x  9" x 3-1/2" casserole dish and it worked beautifully.

Ingredients
1 pound bucatini pasta (like, Barilla No. 9)
1-1/2 cups whole milk (or substitute 1-1/4 cups 2% milk plus 1/4 cup heavy cream)
1 cup (about 4 oz) parmigiano-reggiano cheese, grated
2 cups (about 8 oz) provolone cheese, grated
1 cup (about 4 oz) mozzarella cheese, grated
1 cup (about 4 oz) Parmesan cheese, grated
1 6.7 oz jar pesto sauce (like, Filippo Berio or Rao's)
3 large eggs, beaten
2 tsp garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
non-stock cooking spray (like, Pam)
1 tbsp olive oil

The Recipe
Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees.

Cook the bucatini according to the package directions, but stop just short of the pasta becoming al dante.

Drain the pasta through a colander, then put the pasta back in the pot with the tablespoon of olive oil.  Toss the bucatini around a bit and then cover the pot to keep the pasta warm.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the milk, eggs, garlic, salt, pepper and whisk to combine.  Add all of the parmigiano-reggiano, all of the provolone and half the mozzarella cheese and use a mixing spoon to combine.  Add the pesto sauce and mix again.

Add the pasta to the mixing bowl and carefully fold it into the mixture.  Continue to fold until the pasta is well coated.  There will be some residual, un-absorbed liquid in the mixing bowl and this is expected.  Because the pasta was cooked just short of al dante, the additional liquid will be absorbed by the bucatini in the cooking process.

Lightly coat the casserole dish with the non-stick spray and add the bucatini mixture.  Even out the top with a mixing spoon and then sprinkle on the remaining mozzarella and all of the Parmesan cheese.

Bake uncovered for 45-50 minutes.  The top should be slightly browned and a little oil will be bubbling around the edges of the casserole dish.

Remove from the oven and allow it to sit uncovered for ten minutes, then cut out square portions.  The pasta should be set, not runny, and easy to carve out of the casserole.  This recipe makes enough for six large portions.