‘Dairy Deluxe’ baked rigatoni recipe

This wholesome, filling and therefore perfect winter dish is not recommended for calorie counting healthy eaters however (or those who plan doing much moving after they eat)…

... you’ve been warned!

Milk, cheese, chunks of bacon, buttery pasta and a hint of woody nutmeg… mmm, this baked rigatoni recipe is the definition of 'naughty but nice'. Enjoy!

(Tip - in the market for a new oven? Go with gas powered hobs rather than electric hobs for more control over the temperature.)

Serves 4

Ingredients: (For a printable PDF shopping list click here, or right-click this link and choose 'Save target/link as' to save the list for later.)

1 litre/1.75 pints of milk (skimmed or semi-skimmed)

100g/3.5oz butter (cut into small cubes)

60g/2oz (4 tablespoons) plain/all purpose flour

Half a teaspoon of grated nutmeg (ideally bought whole and grated)

25g/0.8oz grated parmesan cheese

500g/17.5oz rigatoni (I sometimes use tortiglioni, pictured above)

1 ball of mozzarella cheese (standard, not buffalo)

175g/6.2oz thick ham (cut into 1cm cubes)

75g/2.5oz breadcrumbs

Equipment:

Large deep oven dish (I use a 30cm/12-inch oval) or lasagna pan (this Cuisinart is a great buy)

2 large pans/skillets

Cheese grater

Colander

Sieve

Optional: large mixing bowl

Timings

Preparation & sauce: 35 mins

Baking: 20 mins

Overall: 55 mins

STEP 1 – Prepare your ingredients, then smear (rub) butter around the inside surface of your oven dish (to stop ingredients sticking).

Lightly sprinkle breadcrumbs across the base of the dish (less is more, as shown here).

STEP 2 – Pour the milk into a pan.

Using a sieve, mix in the flour. Use a spoon to stir ‘up and down’ – rather than in circles; this mixes the flour the best. (If you see any large lumps of flour, squash these against the side of the pan and keep stirring.) This process should take 2 mins.

STEP 3 – Place this pan of milk on a maximum heat hob for 2 mins (to get the milk warming), then crank it down to 50% to avoid boiling the milk.

When the milk starts getting warm, drop in the butter, nutmeg, and a handful of salt. Stir gently.

The idea now is to keep slowly stirring the sauce until the butter melts and it then turns creamy. This usually takes 20-25 minutes.

Note: This stirring step is the ‘biggie’ of this baked rigatoni recipe. It’s not difficult, it just takes a little time and plenty of slow, consistent stirring (in one circular direction).

What’s also interesting that this sauce ‘turns’ really quick; usually the butter sticks around on the surface for 10 mins or more and then ‘wham!’, it’s gone and instead you’re staring at a white creamy sauce. Bizarre.

STEP 4 – When the sauce first turns creamy, boil a kettle and fill your second pan full of water. (The sauce has 5-10 minutes of thickening left.)

Check your rigatoni’s cooking time and throw this into the pan of water, along with 2 handfuls of salt.

Cook this pasta for 2 mins less than its quoted cooking time (we’re aiming for ‘al dente’ – or ‘firm to the tooth’ – because the pasta will also then be baked).

Whilst this boils, stir the béchamel sauce and turn your oven up to 180C (356-degrees fahrenheit).

STEP 5 – When the béchamel sauce is thick and creamy, take it off the heat.

When the pasta is done, drain it well using the colander/washed sieve, then put it back in its pan (or a mixing bowl) and pour the sauce over it. Mix it together gently.

Note: As with every baked pasta, the key to success with this baked rigatoni recipe is not skimping on the sauce. If you don’t use enough sauce, your pasta shapes will burn in the oven, so pour it all in with the pasta and don’t be shy!

STEP 6 – It’s time to fill that baking dish!

- Pour half the pasta and sauce into the baking dish and level it with a spoon

- Sprinkle all the parmesan, mozzarella and ham cubes on top

- Add the rest of the pasta mixture, level this off, and sprinkle the remaining breadcrumbs (i.e. more of them than before) over the top.

STEP 7 – Pop this dish in the middle shelf of your oven (it might burn on the top shelf), and set your timer or stopwatch for 20 minutes.

Tip: When the tips of the pasta tubes start to go brown, your rigatoni is ready.

And you’re done – finito!

Serve with: Believe me, you probably won’t need anything to eat alongside or after this monster dish. So just serve it with napkins, plenty of water to wash it down, and maybe a cheeky glass or two of red 'vino' (wine) such as this this excellent Nero d'Avola .



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