Rigatoni Pie

Having an Italian boyfriend means a lot of pasta dishes are prepared in my kitchen. If I give him the choice, we would have pasta almost everyday. Don’t take me wrong, I love pasta, but I also love other foods and to try new recipes. During one of these moments when I really wanted to try something different, I saw a photo for rigatoni pie. It’s pasta, meat and tomato sauce but served in a very different way 🙂 just what I needed!

rigatoni pie

What for me was something new seemed to be quite a common thing around the internet world. When I searched for the recipe online I got hundreds of results! Well I guess I’m a bit late then 🙂 And now, which one to choose? The dish is always the same but there’s small differences in all recipes! So I ended up checking through a few of the options available and try to find the best combination for me.

After a few days of research (yes, days!!) I came up with this recipe and method which I will share with you. I found this extensive research very useful. I had quite a few question in my head: how will I get the rigatoni to stay up on the tin, what size of rigatoni to get, how thick should I get the sauce to be, etc, etc, etc… And I think I managed to get all my answers, at least for a first try. What can I tell you? Try to get the largest rigatoni you find, this will allow the sauce to easily get inside them. Leave the cheese mixture and the meat sauce a bit runny so it easier to slide inside the pasta. The recipe below is actually a mixture of steps from several ones I found around the net. Ans I must say: it came out really nice and the boyfriend was happy 🙂

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Yield: 4 people

Rigatoni Pie

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Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 50 minutes

Ingredients

Meat Sauce:

• 1/2 onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 450 g minced beef
• 450 g minced pork
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 small can crushed tomatoes
• Bunch basil leaves

Cheese mixture:

• 450 g ricotta cheese
• 1 egg

Pasta:

• 1 kg rigatoni pasta
• Grated mozzarella & parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven - 200C
2. Saute the onion until translucent (5-7 min).
3. Add the garlic. Stir frequently to avoid burning (2-3 min)
4. Add the meat and stir until is no longer pink.
5. Season with salt & pepper. Turn the heat to medium-high and add the wine. Allow the wine to evaporate (5-10 min)
6. Stir in the tomatoes. Place the basil leaves on the surface of the sauce and allow it to wilt.
7. Push the basil under the surface of the sauce and simmer for 10 min.
8. Remove the basil. Cover the pan partially and simmer for at least 1 hour. If it dries, add water.
9. Cool at room temperature before using it on the pie.
10. Mix the ricotta with the egg..
11. Under cook the rigatoni by 3 min.
12. Cool to room temperature. Toss with olive oil and parmesan cheese.
13. Hold a spring form pan at a slight angle and arrange the pasta so that they rest one against the other. Fill the pan completely and force in a couple of extra ones where possible so that there is a tight, uniform fit.
14. Spread the ricotta mixture over the full surface of the rigatoni. Spread the meat mixture on top of the ricotta. Press both mixtures down with a spatula so that they sink into the pasta.
15. Bake for 15 min. Sprinkle shredded mozzarella over the surface of the pie. Bake for another 15 min until the cheese turns golden.
16. Allow to rest 15 min before removing the spring and slicing it.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 1263Total Fat: 50gSaturated Fat: 20gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 23gCholesterol: 287mgSodium: 424mgCarbohydrates: 98gFiber: 6gSugar: 4gProtein: 94g

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