Baked Stuffed Rigatoni

Thursday 27 June 2013

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Are you like me?  Do you like to browse Pinterest looking for tasty things to cook and to eat?   Do you pin them and make note of them?   How many of them do you actually go back and cook?   Or do you just use your pins to inspire you?  I do a bit of both.  

I peruse and pin . . . then I get inspired and then I cook.  Sometimes exactly from the pin . . . and sometimes I use the pin as a starting base and then run with the ball! 

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A few weeks back I was greatly intrigued by a recipe I saw on Pinterest for a Skillet Baked Stuffed Rigatoni by Heather Christo, which you can see here.   It was a bit fiddly, but it looked fabulously delicious, and not all that difficult to do!

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The really fiddly part was stuffing the rigatoni.  They aren't huge actually, so you will want to make sure you don't cook the pasta until it is flimsy as you are going to have to poke a piping bag into those.  Things I learned from this process . . . room temperature cheese is easier to pipe, and do not overcook the pasta or it will split.

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mmmm . . . little pasta tubes stuffed with cheese . . . layered with fresh basil and slathered with marinara sauce . . . dusted with more cheese and then baked . . . what's not to like????  Of course, there can never be enough cheese and so I added some Dolcelatte to the filling, because . . .  I had it, it needed using and I love it!

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I also added a nice layer of mozzarella to the top.   Heather didn't do this, but once again, I had it to use and I used it!

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Scrummo!   I enjoyed this the other day whilst the Toddster was enjoying the rare treat of a Steak and Kidney (ugh!!) pie. 

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Coz . . . I have taste, and he doesn't.   (I jest people, I jest!)  Seriously though this was really tasty . . . however fiddly.  Think cheese lasagne . . . except stuffed into eensie peensie  tubes.

Would I go to all that fuss again?  Probably not, but at least I gave it a go!   Much easier to just layer the stuff in a dish and bake it.   The end result would probably taste the same!  But if you aren't afraid of a bit of fiddle, by all means go for it! 

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*Baked Stuffed Rigatoni*
Serves 4
I am not usually one for fiddly recipes, but this looked so good I couldn't resist.   I was right.  It was delicious!

1/2 pound of rigatoni pasta
8 ounces ricotta cheese, room temperature
4 ounces soft goats cheese, room temperature
2 ounces dolcelatte cheese, room temperature
fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 large jar of good quality marinara sauce (about 3 cups)
a large handful of fresh basil leaves
2 ounces freshly grated Parmesan cheese
a handful of grated mozzarella cheese
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.  Butter a round baking dish.   Set aside.

Cook your rigatoni until almost al dente, according to package directions.  You don't want it quite al dente.  While the pasta is cooking beat the soft cheeses together in a bowl and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Place into a disposable plastic pastry bag, snip the end and push down all the way, ready for piping.  Drain the rigatoni well and rinse in cold water.  Drain again.  

Place half of your marinara sauce into the bottom of the baking dish.  Top with the basil leaves, reserving a few for the top.  Fill your rigatoni noodles with the cheese mixture.  (It works best if your noodles are not quite cooked and the cheese is at room temperature.  Then you don't have blow outs and the cheese goes in quite easily.)  Lay the filled tubes in the dish in a circular pattern, one layer at a time.   Once you have filled them all and they are in the dish.   Pour the remaining sauce over top, spreading  it out to cover.   Scatter on a few torn basil leaves and the grated Parmesan cheese.  Scatter the Mozarella over top of all.  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the top is golden and the dish is bubbling.   Serve hot!

4 comments

  1. Love these kind of dishes..I think I pinned it..Gosh Marie your toni was small..the patience of an angel!

    I do Pin and make and most turn out great and some are repeats..but the one person i ahve made again and again of her recipes is you..That Korean Beef..The ginger caramel cake..some jam bars oh the list goes on and on.

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  2. Hi Marie

    This looks delish....but sorry...life's too short to stuff rigatoni!

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  3. This look amazing Marie is the perfect food for Dito he loves all with pasta!!!Lovely dish!!
    send you hugs and love xoxoxoxo

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  4. It looks scrumptious! I can see what you meant by fiddly, Marie. I've had baked stuffed rigatoni, and ziti all my life, but the tubes of pasta aren't stuffed. The concept is meant to be a take on lasagna, without the flat, broken flat noodles, and all the hassles that go along with that. Maybe the woman whose recipe was your inspiration, wanted to try something more akin to manicotti. Here are a few examples of a typical baked rigatoni/ziti recipes, just to show what I mean. The ricotta cheese mixture is dropped by the spoonful, in between two layers of the pasta and sauce, and topped with shredded cheese. http://www.marthastewart.com/313585/baked-rigatoni
    http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/baked_ziti/

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