Stuffed Cheesy Rigatoni

I was so excited about making this dish I almost blogged about my excitement. This was something completely new, very hands on and I was sure everyone was going to love it. Much to my dismay the prepping of this dish almost had me throwing it all away and having a frozen pizza for dinner. I am however happy to say that I didn't give up on making it. I definitely learned some very valuable cooking lessons. The first one being - the dish was only so hard because I made it difficult with my lack of knowledge in what I was doing.

When you read the recipe it sounds very simple and to the point. Honestly if you have worked with pasta in a hands on way before you will probably have no issue. 

Stuffed Cheese Rigatoni

Serving size: 4 - 5
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 15 - 20 minutes

Ingredients

- 1lb rigatoni pasta noodles

- 4 to 6 cups of marinara

- Salt and pepper to taste

- 15 ounces of whole milk ricotta cheese

- 8 ounces goat cheese

- 1 cup fresh parmesan cheese, grated

- 4 to 5 fresh basil leaves

Kitchenware

- Measuring cups

- Cast iron skillet or other oven safe skillet/pan

- Large pot

- Medium bowl

- Piping bag or ziplock bag

Directions

- Pre-Heat oven at 350 degrees

- Cook pasta noodles until they are almost done al dente. About 3 minutes before end cook time.

- Combine ricotta cheese, goat cheese, salt and pepper in medium bowl.

- Put room temperature cheese in your piping or ziplock bag (Cheese needs to be room temperature so it will pipe easier into noodles.

- Add 2 to 3 cups of marinara sauce onto bottom of your skillet, then add your basil leaves on top with a hefty sprinkle of your grated cheese.

- Pipe cheese mixture into each rigatoni noodle and layer them side by side into pan. Once filled add your second layer on top.

- When all the noodles are layered add the rest of your marinara sauce on top.

- Cover your sauce with the grated parmesan cheese.

- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. When it turns a golden color your pasta is done. 

Overall this was a very delicious dish. I got the usual 'complaint' that some sort of added meat would have made it better. Which if you are a meat lover I think some crumbled italian sausage or hamburger would go well with it. You could just mix it in with the marinara.

My issue was the piping of the cheese into the noodles. I put all my cheese into a ziplock back. The hole I cut was too big for the noodles so cheese was going everywhere. I got out my real piping bags i used for baking and was having just as many issues finding the correct size. By this time I had a mess and was overly aggravated. I was also working with less cheese and sauce than what I originally thought I needed. When I finally had the right size of everything - everything piped in perfectly. 

This is defiantly a tasty dish that will be made again!

The sauce, basil & cheese before the noodles.

The end delish product! Mmmmm!!