Rigatoni Pasta Pie (Martha Stewart)

Taradactyl's Note:

A pasta pie that hits your eye and your stomach thanks once again to Martha Stewart.

• Total Time: 55 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 4-6

Yield: 1.0 pie

• 1 lb rigatoni pasta
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 lb ground beef (I used ground sirloin)
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 1 (28 ounce) can good quality crushed tomatoes
• butter, for pan
• salt
• 1 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
• 8 ounces coarsely grated mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook pasta until slightly underdone (I cooked mine for 12 minutes when the box indicated 14 minutes). One pound of pasta should be cooked in 6 quarts of water, make sure you are using a big enough pot so the pasta doesn't stick together. When done, rinse in cold water and drain again. Toss pasta with 1 Tablespoon olive oil to coat. Set aside.
2. Heat remaining 1 Tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add ground beef. Cook, stirring occasionally until browned. Add garlic, 1 teaspoon salt and pepper. Cook 2 minutes more.
3. Add crushed tomatoes; simmer until thickened, about 20 minutes.
4. Toss pasta with Parmesan cheese. Butter a 9-inch springform pan. Tightly pack pasta into pan, standing each piece on end. Spread meat sauce on top of pasta.
5. Push the meat sauce into the pasta holes filling each one up. Stuffing the meat into the holes is a weirdly satisfying task. Enough said.
6. Place in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top and bake another 10-15 minutes until cheese is golden. Remove from oven and let stand for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edge to loosen and then unmold.
7. Cut into wedges and serve with any remaining meat sauce you might have.

Reviews

[ClarkeCC]

This was a fun and unusual presentation, albeit somewhat labor intensive. Instead of a tomato based sauce, I used Alfredo sauce, with spinach and shredded chicken breast mixed in.

[Chef #1242855]

This was wonderful!!!! I tweaked it a little. I used my lagsana sauce. I use 2 jars of my favorite jar sauce, 1 can tomato paste, 1 can tomato sauce, and I added 2 lb. browned ground hamburger. I tossed the pasta with parm. and olive oil. Then mixed in the sauce, topped with shreaded parm., mozz., and provalone. Baked at 400 for 20 min.

[MichelleOnTheLake]

I added Italian seasoning in with the ground beef along with 1 whole onion, diced small, also! I didn't find it hard to make at all, and though it took a little time to line up the rigatoni, it was well worth the results when I presented it to my son and his girlfriend for dinner. It was excellent! We had Italian garlic bread and a nice salad to accompany the pie. We will surely have again!