It is mind-blowing to consider the ways that Torah teachings show up in Jewish cooking.This week is Shabbat Shira, when we read the Song of the Sea, Moses’s poetic prayer uttered after the sea split. This is one of the peak moments in Jewish history when, our people achieved a perfect faith and the simplest maid servant exceeded the spiritual heights of the Prophet Ezekiel.

The Shira symbolizes bitachon, trust in G-d even when the going is tough. That is what being Jewish is all about.

From Italy comes Ruota de Faraone, literally the wheel of Pharoah, a meat and pasta casserole which symbolically depicts Pharoah’s chariot wheels before they fell into the sea.

Serve this dish in a round platter so that it can look like a wheel. Ruota has longer list of ingredients than my other recipes but trust me, it’s not hard or even overly time consuming and it’s, hearty and kid friendly and it’s a great way to direct conversation to the Parshat Hashavua, the weekly Torah reading.

I am not some kind of culinary genius and my family isn’t Italian. I read books and use the internet, just like you do.

I discovered this this recipe from Gil Mark’s invaluable Encyclopedia of Jewish Cooking but Marks didn’t include a recipe. I figured I’d find one online but then I made the mistake of googling a dish called Risotto di Farone. So much for my reading comprehension.

When I found only one recipe in Italian, a language I neither read or speak I looked back in Mark’s book and discovered that it was called Ruota not Risotto.

Then I googled up the correct name which led me to Rachel Kahn-Troster of Forward’s Yid.dish column . What follows is my adaption of her adaption of a recipe which comes from Edda Servi Machlin’s “Classic Cuisine of Italian Jews,'” a cookbook I hope to acquire soon.

Thanks to Gil, Rachel and Edda. You can’t have too many friends in this business.

1 lb or 1/2 kg dried pasta. You can use wagon wheels if you want.

3 cups meat sauce (recipe follows)