Baked Pasta with Meatballs and Olives

     This Baked Pasta with Meatballs and Olives is a recipe I wouldn't necessarily make this time of year.  It's a rather hearty meal that I prefer during cooler months.  Usually, by now... by May, it's getting warmer and nice enough to be outdoors occasionally for dinner.  By this time, I should be composing salads and wondering when the radishes will be big enough to pick and add to the greens.  I should be purchasing strawberries at the grocery for a strawberry-rhubarb tart -- all things I had hoped to do while my family visited from Ohio for four days.   
     But we had yet another snow this past week.  And although we were lucky here in St. Paul, Minnesota, not to receive snow that needed shoveling as many near-by communities did, our snow was mixed with a cold, constant rain that lasted for days.  All of the meals I prepared for my family were baked in the oven.  Nothing was grilled outdoors, and there was no sitting on the patio under warm spring sunshine.  The way this year has gone so far, we may be eating hearty pasta dishes well into July...
    

        
         Baked Pasta with Meatballs and Olives
                      + adapted recipe from the Food Network +

• Kosher salt
• 1 pound rigatoni
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, more for brushing
• 4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
• Pinch of red pepper flakes
• 1 28-ounce can plum tomatoes, crushed with your hands
• 1 15-ounch can plum tomatoes, crushed, or 2 cups of homemade tomato sauce
• 4 large sprigs of basil
• 9 ounces pancetta, diced and browned
• 2 cups meatballs, cooked and halved (the recipe I use HERE)
• 1 cups sliced, roasted, red peppers
• 1 cup chopped black or green, pitted olives (I used green French Picholine)
• 3 cups grated, mild Provolone cheese
• 1 cup freshly grated ricotta salata

1.  Preheat the oven to 350˚F.
2.  Cook the rigatoni to package directions; drain.
3.  Heat the olive oil in a large skillet or saucepan.  Add the garlic and red pepper flakes; cook until the garlic just begins to color.  Add the large can of crushed plum tomatoes, and the small can of crushed plum tomatoes (or the 2 cups of fresh tomato sauce).  Rinse out the tomato containers with a total 1 cup of water, and add this water to the skillet along with the sprigs of fresh basil.  Simmer the mixture, uncovered, for about 15 minutes.  Discard the basil sprigs and season the mixture with salt.
4.  Stir the browned pancetta into the sauce, then add the meatballs, roasted peppers, and olives.
5.  Brush a large 3 to 4-quart baking dish with olive oil.  Add the cooked pasta to the tomato sauce, along with half of the grated provolone and half of the ricotta salata.  Mix gently, then spoon into the baking dish.  Sprinkle the remaining cheese evenly over top of pasta.
6.  Bake pasta on the center rack of the oven for 30 minutes (the original recipe called for baking at 450˚F for 15 minutes, but I prefer baking longer at a lower temp).

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