Do you get into a pasta slump in your household? I find there’s only so many times you can have spaghetti and spaghetti sauce without wanting to switch it up. Which is why I totally jumped on board when I saw this recipe for Italian rigatoni pie from Noble Pig. You use a spring-form pan, stand up all the rigatoni noodles in it and suddenly you have a new and exciting way to serve pasta!
There are other recipes out there where you make the sauce from scratch, but my busy kids don’t give me enough time for that! I like to use a jar of my favourite pasta sauce instead. If you prefer to make the sauce yourself, I’m sure it would be even more delicious!
Three Cheese Italian Rigatoni Pie
Ingredients
- 1 pound Rigatoni
- 1 jar of your favourite pasta sauce approximately 2.5 cups, give or take. If it's slightly more or less, just use it all
- 1/2 cup of water
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil divided
- 1 pound ground beef or ground pork
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese
- 1 container cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
- 1 large egg
- 1-1/2 to 2 cups mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Cook the Rigatoni in a large pot of salted, boiling water. Make sure you use enough water because the rigatoni sucks up a lot. Cook it about 1 minute less than the package directions so it is still hard enough to stand up. Drain the pasta and rinse under cold water.
- Toss pasta with 1 Tablespoon of oil to prevent it from sticking. Then add the parmesan cheese and toss until the cheese is evenly distributed. Set aside.
- In a large frying pan, brown the ground beef in 1 Tablespoon of oil. Drain away the fat once it's cooked.
- Add the jar of pasta sauce and water and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat. Cover and simmer for at least 20 minutes. The longer you simmer the better. Just make sure you add more water if it all boils off.
- Remove from heat and let it cool for 10 minutes.
- Mix together the container of cottage cheese and the egg. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Grease a 9 inch sprinform pan.
- Take the cooked rigatoni and stand each piece up on its end in the pan. Continue until the whole pan is tightly packed.
- Pour the cottage cheese mixture over the rigatoni and spread evenly over all the noodles.
- Pour the meat mixture over top and spread evenly over the noodles. Use your finger to poke the meat and cheese mixture down into the noodles. The more patience you have with this step, the better it will be.
- Bake for 15 minutes at 400F.
- Remove from the oven and top with the mozzarella cheese.
- Bake for another 15 minutes at 400F.
- Let stand for 10 minutes then run a knife around the edge of the pan to help remove the springform pan.
Boil the rigatoni in plenty of water. It absorbs a lot of water and you don’t want it sticking together. Cook it about 1 minute less than the package directions suggest. You need it to be hard enough that it will stand up on its own in the springform pan. Rinse with cool water and then toss it with some oil to prevent it from sticking together.
I love fresh Parmesan cheese! I definitely recommend grating it fresh if you can.
Add the Parmesan cheese to the rigatoni and toss until it’s well mixed. Be careful not to break the noodles while you are stirring.
Brown the ground beef or ground pork. I used beef, but I’ve noticed that pork is half the price of beef right now, so I’ll definitely make it with pork next time.
Add the jar of pasta sauce and some water to the ground beef. I used a 645mL (roughly 2.5 cups or 20 oz) jar of Prego Mushroom and Green Pepper Sauce. I find it has a great flavour when you mix it with the ground beef.
Mix well, cover, and simmer for at least 20 minutes since the sauce will taste better the longer you let it cook. You could even let it cook an hour or two if you want. You’ll just have to make sure you add plenty of water so the sauce doesn’t boil away on you.
Now here is where your patience comes in. You’ll have to take each one of the rigatoni noodles and stand it up on its end in the sprinform pan:
Make sure they are compressed enough that you have a good quantity of noodles, but still enough space for the sauce to drop through.
Mix together the cottage cheese (or ricotta cheese) and egg together for the cheese filling:
Pour this cheese mixture on top of the noodles and spread evenly over top.
Make sure you have let your meat mixture cool for at least 10 minutes, then pour it on top and spread it evenly over the noodles. Use your finger to poke the meat and cheese down into the noodles. The more noodles you can get the sauce into the better. It takes a bit of time, but it’s not too bad. Just make sure you’ve let the sauce cool or you’ll burn your fingers… like I did…
I’d recommend putting the springform pan on top of a cookie sheet before you pour the sauce on. Some of the sauce will leak through the spring form pan, depending on how watery your sauce is, and it’s easier to keep everything clean if there is something to catch it.
Bake for 15 minutes at 400F, then remove from the oven and top with the mozzarella cheese.
Bake it for another 15 minutes at 400F until the cheese is bubbly. Let it stand for about 10 minutes before removing it from the springform pan.
Use a knife to cut around the edge of the pan and then open and remove the sides of the springform pan.
Swap out the noodles and this is pretty much the exact recipe I use for lasagna and for regular spaghetti and meat sauce.
It’s amazing how much of a difference it makes to use the same ingredients in a different way. Switch to rigatoni and suddenly it’s something different that most people haven’t had before!
I would definitely serve this to friends or family who came over for dinner.
You can see that the more sauce you get down into the noodles the better! Yum!
Serve this at your next dinner party, or make it at home just to spice things up a little bit. It was a huge hit in our family and a fun way to rethink how we make pasta for dinner!
Handyman Crafty Woman says
Congratulations! You’ve been featured on Wicked Awesome Wednesday! Thanks for sharing your Rigatoni Pie recipe! I can’t wait to try it. Feel free to stop by the website to grab your “I’ve Been Featured!” button.
Kyla @ House Of Hipsters . com says
Yep! This is getting made soon! It looks delicious! Thanks for sharing on Found & Foraged!
Claudia says
Ma che schifo é?? Questa roba non è un piatto italiano ma soprattutto quella NON È MOZZARELLA!!!
🙁
Leighann says
Great Idea Debbie! I wonder if you could do the same idea with a chicken-alfredo, shredding the chcken and replacing tomato sauce for alfredo sauce? We have a picky eater in our household who wont eat beef or tomatos (ugh!) Maybe we will just have to try this one night when she is gone!
Debbie @ One Little Project says
I love the idea of trying it with chicken alfredo! That is seriously a fabulous idea and I definitely think it will work! I’m going to try it some time! 🙂
April Gagnon says
Do you have to use cottage cheese or ricotta cheese? I hate both.
Debbie @ One Little Project says
I’m not sure it would keep it’s shape without the egg? I think those cheeses with the egg are what help keep it together? You’d have to increase the amount of cheese coating the noodles, and possibly coat the noodles in a beaten egg. That’s just my two cents – I really don’t know how turn out without cottage or ricotta cheese?
hotpepper5 says
This may not be the recipe for you, then. It’s an important ingredient in this.
Lou Kelly says
You could try it with a white bechamel sauce instead. I prefer this to using cheese. It’s so easy to make and you can add cheese to it if you wish.
Max Sinclair says
I just made this last night for my friends and absolutely nailed it! hardest bit was holding the pasta upright.
Debbie @ One Little Project says
AWESOME!!!! Thanks so much for sharing the pictures! It looks delicious!!! 🙂
PatriotGranny says
I bet if you cooked the rigatoni about half as long and made your sauce a little thinner (so the half cooked rigatoni had something to soak up while baking), it would stand up a lot easier AND the cottage cheese and meat would go in easier.
Debbie @ One Little Project says
Just make sure you have a big enough baking sheet below it if you make the sauce more watery. Spring form pans aren’t always water tight (or at least mine isn’t), so if your sauce is really watery, it might leak out and make a big mess.
Terri Phillips says
When I make cheesecake I wrap it in heavy aluminim foil, would probably work for this too.
Jill Kathrins Shepherd says
LOVE YOUR PICS! OK, you convinced me, I’m making it this week! 🙂
Dawn Balsamo says
Looks soo good! Just one question. I’m using ricotta cheese instead of cottage. What size container should be used? Thanks!
Debbie @ One Little Project says
You should be able to use the same quantity of ricotta as cottage cheese. I bet it will be DELICIOUS! 🙂
Mike Sciascia says
Dawn, and April, we’re cooking here, we’re not building a Space Shuttle… 95% of recipes do not require EXACTLY following of the recipe, there is leeway for “EXPERIMENTATION” and “ERROR” for lack of another word. you could probably use “seasoned” Greek Yogurt.
To help the Pasta stick together when serving it you could line the bottom of the spring form pan with a 1/4″ or so of mixture of Mozzarella, and Provolone to hold the bottoms of the Rigatoni together. To remove from the pan raise the spring form side about 1/4″ and insert a thin blade cake knife or spatula between the bottom and the edge of the side to loosen it from the bottom, using the spring form side slide it onto a serving plate.
I am planning on trying to do a 3 tier version and topping it off with a 3 cheese sauce drizzled over the whole thing, and returning it to the oven to brown a little.
PS My Grandmother baked Chiffon Cakes (12 egg yolks and 18 egg whites) for over 45 years and never measured any ingredients except the Baking Powder. with anything but her hands and by sight. When asked for the recipe it took her over 14 tries to get the recipe right.
Kathy says
It’s easier to lay the pasta into the springform pan if you stand it up at an angle and LAY the pieces of rigatoni against the other pieces. I think about a 45 degree angle works best. Just lean it against a scrunched-up towel and start laying the pasta in it. The fuller it gets the easier it is and you can lay it down flat for the last couple of rows…it’s not going to fall down the more packed it is!
JoanE says
How many does this feed?
Sherry Aikens says
Made this tonight I was a little short on pasta my pan takes about 1 1/4 to fill. It was a huge hit. I made my sauce from scratch had 2 1/2 but could have used a little more even with the water because I had extra pasta. My husband said it was yummy. Everybody kids included went back for more with leftovers Great dish so glad I found it on pinterest. Thanks great Idea