RECIPES
RIGATONI MOZZARELLA BAKE This is not so much a recipe, but more a set of instructions on what to do with left-over ragù or tomato sauce. The quantities are easy to reduce or increase, so use this as a guide. Really, this works with anything that’s going to hold up well when covered in cheese and re-baked. In other words, avoid oil and seafood based pasta sauces. There is a method to my madness in asking you to play with your food and make the rigatoni stand up – it gives the cheese hollow gaps to melt into, which just means an even distribution of cheese.
Serves 2 250ml (1 cup) left-over pasta sauce 125g grated regular or buffalo mozzarella 80g (1 cup) grated Parmigiano Reggiano Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling Not applicable for fresh pasta use dried Rigatoni pasta for two. Preheat the oven to 200°C fan-forced. Bring a large saucepan of water to a lively boil and season as salty as the sea. Add the pasta and cook until molto al dente. You want it to be underdone, as the pasta will continue to cook in the oven. Drain the pasta and toss it through your chosen sauce – it helps to heat up the sauce here, too. Tip the pasta into a 20 cm x 14 cm or 1.2 litre baking dish and, using your hands, turn the rigatoni so they are standing upright, with the hollow rounds facing upwards. Scatter over the mozzarella and Parmigiano Reggiano and drizzle with olive oil, then bake in the oven for 20–30 minutes, until golden.
64 GOLD COAST • PANACHE Magazine
RECIPES FROM SATURDAY NIGHT PASTA BY ELIZABETH HEWSON, PUBLISHED BY PLUM, RRP $36.99, PHOTOGRAPHY BY NIKKI TO.
RECIPE EXTRACT FROM SATURDAY NIGHT PASTA
