One of my favorite things to do with the girls is take them grocery shopping with me and let them pick out random ingredients. Miss Emmie, aged 3, picked out a big pack of Rigatoni. I also had an excessive amount of Ricotta left from a previous recipe, so I mixed the two of those together and got a meal-prep friendly dinner that fed my family, plus a few stragglers and heated up well for leftover lunch for me the next day.
The addition of a hefty amount of spinach and mushrooms, cheese, Ricotta and fresh tomato sauce made for a really simple and fresh Italian dish that the whole family devoured.
How to Make Baked Rigatoni:
I make a conscience effort to add vegetables of some sort to every dish and while this dish is similar in concept to a Baked Ziti, the addition of the mushrooms and spinach really adds a heartiness and richness to it, plus helps keep everyone full, that we all appreciated.
I started with 1 1/2 pounds of mushrooms. When I said there were veggies, I wasn't kidding ;). I washed, cleaned and de-stemmed them and sliced them into thin slices. While I used Cremini Mushrooms, white mushrooms, Portabellos, etc. would work just fine.
Add olive oil and diced garlic into a pan and sautée with mushrooms until starting to brown. Add your spinach and salt and pepper to the pan and cook down until wilted. Meanwhile, cook Rigatoni until al dente being sure to follow the cooking times on the back of the box.
Next add in the Ricotta and cook until smooth and creamy. Add marinara warming through and mixing well.
In a 9x13 greased pan, add the al dente Rigatoni and the mushroom, spinach, ricotta mixture. Top with 2 cups of shredded Italian Cheese and bake for 30 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown. Allow the dish to cool for a few minutes before slicing and serving.
Enjoy!
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