Thanks to my newfound culinary passion, I have recently made quite a few foodie friends in the virtual world. We had a baking session at my place recently, which was a perfect opportunity to meet some of these wonderful girls.
Foodie friends deserve a special meal. I wanted to try something new. So made stuffed rigatoni with ricotta, parmesan and spinach and poured some Arabiatta sauce over it. Something different from the regular pastas and OH SO delicious. Highly recommended.
Stuffed rigatoni with arrabiata
Rigatoni pasta about 1/3 pkt
olive oil
1 bunch spinach
1 cup grated Parmesan
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 large onion, chopped
5 garlic cloves, chopped
10 tomatoes
1 readymade tomato purée pkt
1 tbsp fresh basil
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 tbsp fresh parsley
(U can also use dried herbs)
1 tsp red chilli flakes
1 tsp dried oregano
salt
grated Parmesan cheese to serve
To make ricotta cheese and spinach filling:
1) Cook spinach in 1 tablespoon olive oil until wilted. Drain of all juices, and chop spinach.
2) mix together ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese and cooked spinach. Salt to taste.
To cook the sauce
1) blanch or roast the tomatoes. remove skin and chop or purée as per preference.
2) in a pan, heat olive oil and add the onions and garlic. Sautée to pink
3) add the tomato, pkt purée, chilli flakes, oregano, salt and if U are adding other dried herbs add it now (fresh herbs will taste better if added towards the end).
4) cook till tomatoes are soft
To cook and assemble the pasta
1) cook pasta Al dente
2) Drain, cool briefly and immediately fill pasta tubes with cheese and spinach filling. Start filling the tubes immediately after draining them and briefly cooling. Don’t let them get too cold
3) at serving time, pour 3/4 of the sauce in the Center of the dish. Place the pasta on top in a row and pour the rest of the sauce on the pasta. Grate parmesan cheese on top.
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