Baked Rigatoni With Meatballs

Submitted by lazyme

"Good recipe from Southern Living. Sometimes I cheat and use frozen meatballs to save time."

 

• Ready In: 50mins
• Ingredients: 24
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 cups mushrooms, sliced
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons dried basil
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3⁄4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 (28 ounce) can tomatoes, chopped
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 3 1⁄2 cups rigatoni pasta
• 1 1⁄3 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1⁄4 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated

• Meatballs

• 1 egg
• 1⁄3 cup onion, finely chopped
• 1⁄4 cup dry breadcrumbs
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tablespoons parmesan cheese, freshly grated
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 3⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 lb lean ground turkey

directions

1. Meatballs:

2. In bowl, beat egg lightly; mix in onion, crumbs, garlic, Parmesan, oregano, salt and pepper. Mix in turkey. Shape heaping tablespoonfuls into balls.
3. In large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat; cook meatballs, in batches if necessary, for 8-10 minutes or until browned on all sides. Transfer to paper towel-lined plate.
4. Add onion, garlic, mushrooms, green pepper, basil, sugar, oregano, salt, pepper and 2 tb water to skillet; cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes or until vegetables are softened. Stir in tomatoes and tomato paste; bring to boil. Add meatballs; reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until slightly thickened.
5. Meanwhile, in large pot of boiling salted water, cook rigatoni for about 8 minutes or until pasta is tender but firm. Drain and return to pot; add tomato sauce, stirring to coat rigatoni.
6. Transfer to 11x7-inch baking dish or 8-cup shallow oven casserole. Sprinkle mozzarella (use part-skim mozzarella), then Parmesan evenly over top.
7. Bake in 400ºF oven for about 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and top is golden.

Reviews

[CookingONTheSide]

This is great! I made the meatballs earlier in the day and baked them. I love all the vegetables in this dish and the sauce was thick and flavorful. I really think this is a pretty simple dish if you plan ahead! I think it might be nice to cut the meatballs in half to make it easier to eat unless you make the meatballs smaller than I did. Thanks for sharing!

 

[littleturtle]

Smelled great cooking and I thought this was good, though I figured it would never be a favorite; family thought it was just okay. I probably would have given this 4 stars but it ended up being really time consuming (took more than twice as long as the listed time) and made a fairly large mess. It was a good dinner for tonight, but I probably won't make it again. Sorry.

 

[Mysterygirl]

I fixed this last night for company. Easy and quick to get together at the last minute if you are prepared ahead of time. For example, I had the meatballs all ready the night before so that I just through it together quickly last night. Thanks for posting a very tasty dish.

 

[evelynathens]

This was a great recipe to make - having a batch of frozen, homemade meatballs in the freezer made it even easier. I made up the sauce and added the (defrosted) meatballs, boiled the pasta and was good to go in setting up the casserole. So tasty and fast, but it does take some organization. I did use a combo of cheeses, simply because I also had some bits of cheddar and Swiss that needed to get used. Everyone loved it.

 

[HEP MEP]

This took a long time for me to put together ( 2 hours before it hit the oven!) but it was time well spent for the delicious result! The sauce was perfect, the meatballs tender - and very filling. I made one minor change - used fresh mozzarella that I cubed and sprinkled on top of the casserole - got all melty and gooey - yum! It's a keeper!