Baked Italian Rigatoni Casserole

Macaroni cake — unusual, bright, interesting! Italians love and know how to cook pasta like no other. They not only boil them, but also bake them in the oven in different ways. This recipe is very similar to lasagna, but instead of sheets, they use rigatoni, a tube-shaped pasta. Makes delicious baked macaroni and cheese!
cook time: 4h
Maya Lindell
Baked Italian Rigatoni Casserole

Nutrition Facts (per serving)

209
Calories
11g
Fat
19g
Carbs
7g
Protein

Ingredients (6 portions)

Basic:

Pasta 400 g
Eggs 2 pc
Hard cheese 50 g

For the bechamel sauce:

Milk 250 g
Butter 20 g
Wheat flour 20 g
Nutmeg to taste
Salt to taste

For the bolognese sauce:

Minced meat 300 g
Onion 1 pc
Carrot 1 pc
Tomato sauce 100 g
Meat broth 250 ml
Red wine 125 ml
Olive oil 2 tbsp
Dry spices to taste
Ground black pepper to taste
Salt to taste

Recipe instructions

Step 1

Step 1
How to bake pasta? The preparation will take place in three stages — first we will prepare bechamel and bolognese sauces, and then bake boiled pasta with them. Prepare ingredients for bechamel sauce.

Step 2

Step 2
Take a thick-bottomed saucepan, put butter in it and place on low heat. Melt the butter and immediately, without waiting for it to boil, add flour, salt and nutmeg. While constantly stirring, fry the flour until a pleasant nutty aroma appears, this will take just a couple of minutes.

Step 3

Step 3
Then pour the milk into the flour in a thin stream, actively working with a spoon — this way you will avoid the appearance of lumps. Take a whisk and, stirring constantly, bring the sauce until it thickens. Turn off the heat and leave the sauce to cool.

Step 4

Step 4
Prepare ingredients for bolognese sauce. You can exclude broth and wine from the products by pouring water over the meat, but a real Italian recipe implies their presence. Vegetables often include a stalk of celery. And along with the minced meat — bacon. I always use pureed tomatoes for tomato sauce.

Step 5

Step 5
Cut the onion into small cubes.

Step 6

Step 6
Carrots — also, in small cubes.

Step 7

Step 7
Heat a frying pan and pour olive oil into it. Lay out the vegetables. Stirring, fry them for 5 minutes.

Step 8

Step 8
Place the minced meat in the pan. Use a spatula to break up large pieces. Fry it with vegetables for 5 minutes.

Step 9

Step 9
Pour in tomato sauce, stir.

Step 10

Step 10
Pour in the broth, wine, salt and spices.

Step 11

Step 11
Stir and cover with a lid. Turn the heat to very low and let the sauce simmer for at least 45 minutes. Italians stew Bolognese for 2 hours or longer. To do this, you will need to pour in a liter of broth.

Step 12

Step 12
You will also need pasta, eggs and hard cheese for cooking. Italians prepare this dish with rigatoni — long hollow tubes. But you can also take other types of pasta with a similar shape. The cheese traditionally used is Parmesan.

Step 13

Step 13
Boil pasta in salted water. Cook them for a minute less than indicated on the package. They should not break or boil over.

Step 14

Step 14
Itʼs time to make a macaron cake. Take a springform pan. Mine is 20 cm in diameter. Grease the bottom and walls with oil.

Step 15

Step 15
Break the eggs into the bolognese sauce.

Step 16

Step 16
Mix the sauce with the eggs. Set aside a few spoons.

Step 17

Step 17
Add pasta to sauce and stir.

Step 18

Step 18
Now comes the most time consuming part of this recipe. Place the pasta in the pan so that it stands upright. Pour the remaining sauce over them.

Step 19

Step 19
Top the pasta with bechamel sauce. I still have some of the sauce left. Sprinkle with a couple of tablespoons of grated Parmesan.

Step 20

Step 20
Bake the pasta in an oven preheated to 190°C for about 20 minutes. It is better to wrap the bottom of the pan with foil so that the leaking sauce does not burn in the oven. I placed it on the bottom of another mold of larger diameter. Focus on your oven when baking!

Step 21

Step 21
Carefully run a knife between the wall and the side of the “cake” and remove the pan. Serve the baked pasta garnished with herbs.

Additional rubrics

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