This baked half rigatoni is made with pasta tossed in a delicious meat sauce, with mozzarella and Parmesan cheese and some fresh basil. Baked until the cheese goes bubbly and golden brown, it turns into a perfect and super easy hearty meal.
Oh, pasta! I love it. Whether it’s spaghetti, penne, farfalle or tagliatelle, you can never go wrong with pasta. Pasta is one of the favourite dishes around the world and easy to make, popular with kids and adults. Also, it is very versatile. In fact, it can be adapted to any preferences, either warm or cold, with meat or vegetables, cooked or baked. But there is one thing all pasta dishes have in common. The pasta must be cooked al dente!
In this particular recipe, the pasta should be cooked only to the point before it turns al dente. This will take you about 4-7 minutes, depending on the pasta you pick. Consequently, it won’t overcook during baking. Yes!
Rigatoni is a larger tube-shaped pasta with ridges on the outer side. Half rigatoni, which I used, is literally halved regular rigatoni. Wink. This pasta, along with other pasta with ridges or pasta with a hoarse surface, holds perfectly to thicker sauces, such as this meat one or tomato or creamy sauces, as well.
This meat sauce is simple yet rich in flavour. The secret is to cook it for at least 30 minutes on low heat. As a result, all the flavours will blend in a succulent sauce. And the great thing is, you can prepare it in advance and freeze it. Like that you can use it whenever you want.
More pasta dishes you’ll enjoy:
Ingredients for around 3-4 portions of baked half rigatoni:
- 300g of half rigatoni (or any other pasta)
- 200 g minced beef
- 1 onion (chopped)
- 2 garlic cloves (sliced)
- 1 tsp of tomato paste
- oregano (to taste)
- 300 ml vegetable broth
- 3 Tbsp of green peas (frozen or fresh)
- 2 Tbsp of sweet corn
- 100 g of sour cream
- 100 g cooked ham (cut into strips or cubes)
- 1 mozzarella (sliced)
- Parmesan cheese
- fresh basil leaves
To begin, peel and chop the onion and slice the garlic. Cut the cooked ham into strips or cubes. Then, in a larger non-sticking frying pan, drizzle some olive oil. Add the meat to the pan and brown it well.
At this point, stir in the onion and garlic and cook for a couple of minutes. Once the onion is glossy, add the tomato paste, pour in the vegetable broth, sprinkle with oregano and bring to a boil. Once it starts boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low, cover with a lid and cook for 30 minutes more. In between, give it an occasional stir, as well.
After 30 minutes, cook the pasta just to the point before they are al dente. The pasta will cook in the oven to perfect consistency. Furthermore, season the meat mixture with salt and pepper, remove from the heat and stir in the sour cream.
Preheat the oven to 180º C. Next, add the rigatoni to the meat sauce along with green peas, corn, Parmesan cheese and ham. Carefully toss to combine. Then, transfer everything to a baking dish, top it with mozzarella slices and some additional Parmesan cheese and put to bake for 15-20 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown.
Finally, serve the baked half rigatoni straight away garnished with fresh basil leaves. It makes a wonderful comfort meal either for lunch or dinner. It pairs great with a small green salad, too.
Enjoy!
