Comfort Food Recipe: Rigatoni al Forno
Published 1:38 pm Sunday, March 24, 2013
Rigatoni al forno is a rich,brhearty dish with tons of flavor that goes from pot to table in about 45brminutes. What more could you ask for?
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Who’s al forno?
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Not so much of a who as a what. Al forno is the northernbrItalian word for foods that are baked. It sounds impressive doesn’t it?br “Fill in the blank” al forno.
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Traditionally baked in a woodbrfired oven, al forno dishes are a favorite of Italy. Of course the termsbrisn’t used to describe all foods which are baked. You don’t go aroundbrsaying pizza al forno now do?
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So while you’re standing around the water cooler impressing your friendsbrsaying that you made some rigatoni al forno last night for supper. Youbrwill know that all you really did was to bake some pasta in a delicious meatbrsauce. But hey, that’s good enough for me.
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What, no cannelloni?
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I developed this dish one night from wanting to makebrmy cannelloni al forno, but didn’t really have the time. Ibrthought of a way to incorporate the same flavors and textures without all ofbrthe time and steps in the cannelloni dish.
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A casserole came to mind, which is what this really is when youbrget down to it. Essentially the meat sauce in made in one pot, the pastabris cooked just shy of al dente’ in another, and the two are combined in abrcasserole and baked until cheesy, bubbly perfection is reached. Yeah,brthat sounds good.
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Al forno ingredients
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The meat in the sauce is a combination of ground beef and Italianbrsausage, which is combined with marinara sauce and some heavy cream. Ifbryou haven’t made my excellent marinara sauce go ahead and use your favoritebrjarred sauce instead. Just be sure to add a medium, chopped onion andbrabout 4 cloves of chopped garlic.
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I use Barilla pasta exclusively. I find that it is by farbrthe most consistent of the dried, packaged pastas on the market. Thebrpackage states, “11 minutes for al dente'”, and that is true.br But being that this pasta will be cooked twice, boil that pasta for aboutbr8-9 minutes.
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Use whatever cheese you like. I used a combination of finelybrshredded colby-jack cheese and a 5 cheese Italian blend.
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Note: The sauce will be very thin in the pot,brbut not to worry. The pasta will do its starchy job and thicken the saucebrfor us while it is baking.
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Yield: This recipe makes 10-12 servings. Sobrthere will be some for left overs the next day.
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Ingredients:
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· br2tbsp.br Olive oil
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· br1lb.br Ground beef
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· br1lb.br Sweet Italian sausage
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· br2Cbr Dry red wine
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· br1qt.br Marinara sauce
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· br1qt.br Heavy whipping cream
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· br2-3tbsp.br Italian blend seasoning
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· br2tspn.br Red pepper flakes
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· brSaltbrand all-purpose seasoning to taste
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· br1lb.br Barilla rigatoni
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· br2Cbr Finely shredded cheese (divided)
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Method:
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Preheat oven to 350°
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Place a large pot of heavily salted water over high heat and bringbrto a boil.
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Place a large (5qt. or larger) dutch oven over medium-highbrheat and add the olive oil
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Remove the sausage from its casings, add the ground beefbrand sausage to the pot, and brown well
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Add the onions and garlic (if using) and cook until the onions arebrtranslucent
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Add the wine and cook until the liquid is reduced by half, about 5brminutes
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Cook the pasta 8-9 minutes and drain
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Add the cream, marinara sauce, all-purpose seasoning, salt,brItalian seasoning, red pepper flakes, and bring to a simmer
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Taste and adjust seasoning. This will be your only chance tobrdo so
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Turn the heat off and add the pasta, stirring well to combine
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Add one cup of shredded cheese
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Lightly oil a 10X10 or 9X12 casserole
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Note: Do not mix the pasta and sauce in thebrcasserole. This will remove the oil layer and promote sticking
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Add the mixture to the casserole and top with remaining cheese
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Bake for 20-30 minutes until bubbling and the cheese is browned.
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A pasta dish by any other name
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Call it al forno, call a casserole, call it a pasta bake, callbrwhatever you wish, but once you make this simple, comforting dish you will callbrit delicious.
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Stay hungry.