Signature Dish of the Day: Cheesy Rigatoni Pasta Bake
Signature Dish of the Day: Happy new month everyone! I just love the smell of Spring coming right around the corner...it brings with it such a strong sense of hope and longing that truly adds a spring to one's steps🌹😁. Kicking off the new season with this beautifully loaded Cheesy Rigatoni Pasta Bake as our signature dish of the day today! Irresistibly delicious, hearty, and filling, this dish requires quite a bit of effort to create but results in a wonderfully cozy weeknight dinner meal. This dish is very similar to lasagna with the main difference being the use of a different type of pasta noodle as the main component.
To prepare this delectable pasta dish, first boil about 4 cups of water seasoned with some salt and a dash of olive oil in a large pot for about 10 minutes until it starts to bubble. Pour in 1 whole packet of dry rigatoni pasta, stir thoroughly, and let this simmer uncovered for about 9 - 10 minutes until it is cooked al dente. Make sure you don't overcook the pasta at this stage since it will continue to cook further in the oven. Once the pasta is done, save 2 cups of boiling water in a glass container before draining the rest out. In a small bowl, slice up about 1 cup of ripe cherry tomatoes, season with some salt and ground black pepper, and drizzle with about 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Mix this together thoroughly before stirring the mixture into the boiled pasta. Once the ingredients are well-blended, cover the pasta and set aside.
In a large sauté pan, pour in about 1lb. of lean ground beef and stir it continuously. Season it with some salt, ground black pepper, smoked paprika, and dry rosemary flakes while stirring vigorously. Let this cook for about 5 more minutes until all the beef has changed color to brown. Once done, pour in about 2 tablespoons of olive oil as well as a melange of diced red onions, tomatoes, and julienne slices of 2 small red beets. Stir the ingredients together, pour in the 2 cups of pasta water, and let the broth cook down and start to thicken for about 5 minutes. Thereafter, pour in 1 cup of a pasta sauce of your choice into the mixture to begin developing the ground beef sauce. Season with additional ground black pepper, dry parsley flakes, and salt to taste then let this continue to cook for another 5 minutes before turning off the heat and setting aside.
Next, preheat the oven to 350℉. In a large 9-inch casserole dish (preferrably glass as it conducts and distributes heat more evenly), use a serving spoon to scoop a small amount of the ground beef sauce to serve as the bottom layer of the dish. Then begin creating alternating layers of the cooked rigatoni pasta, followed by an additional layer of sauce. Sprinkle a mixture of grated cheddar and mozzarella cheeses over the layer of sauce before creating another layer of cooked pasta, followed by more sauce, and a final layer of cheese at the top. I ended up with 2 layers of pasta for this dish and it filled up right to the very top since the size of the rigatoni pasta was quite large. Once al the layers are complete, garnish with some dry oregano and parsley flakes and cover the baking dish with aluminum foil so the pasta does not dry out. Place the dish in the oven and bake at 350℉ for about 30 minutes. Once done, serve hot as a main dinner meal and make sure you truly savor every single bite. Enjoy! 😋💖
