This is a one pot, one dish meal. If you can get your hands on smoked mozzarella versus the regular stuff, you’ll take the flavor to the next level.
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 1 hr 30 min |
| Prep: | 15 min |
| Cook: | 1 hr 15 min |
| Yield: | 6 to 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 pound rigatoni
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 large shallot, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 2 cups milk
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 (10-ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess water
- 2 cups ricotta cheese
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 8 ounces smoked or fresh mozzarella, grated
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Cook rigatoni for 5 minutes in a pot of boiling, salted water. Drain and toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Set aside.
- To make the bechamel sauce:
- Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat and add the shallots and garlic. Sweat the shallots and garlic for a few minutes until softened and but not colored. Add the flour and stir until a smooth paste forms. Gradually whisk in the wine and then the milk. Bring the mixture to a simmer, whisking constantly and cook until thickened, about 5 minutes. Season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper, to taste. Let cool slightly.
- Transfer cooled bechamel to a large mixing bowl and add the spinach, ricotta, and eggs. Mix in rigatoni and transfer to a greased 9 by13-inch baking dish. Top with grated mozzarella. Cover loosely with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 20 minutes, or until cheese is lightly browned on top, the center is no longer runny, and the sides are bubbly.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 8 servings |
| Calories | 575 |
| Total Fat | 26 g |
| Saturated Fat | 14 g |
| Carbohydrates | 56 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Sugar | 6 g |
| Protein | 27 g |
| Cholesterol | 115 mg |
| Sodium | 765 mg |
| Serving Size | 1 of 8 servings |
| Calories | 575 |
| Total Fat | 26 g |
| Saturated Fat | 14 g |
| Carbohydrates | 56 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Sugar | 6 g |
| Protein | 27 g |
| Cholesterol | 115 mg |
| Sodium | 765 mg |
Reviews
I’ve been making this for 6 years & after reading some negative reviews I can’t help but to want to say to those folks- ‘ya sure you’re doin’ it right?’ Been a home run every time for everyone I have served it to, period. Unless people hate creamy, delicious, flavorful pasta dishes I can’t imagine how, particularly with smoked mozz, they could give one star. I worked in restaurants waiting tables, tending bar, did it for 12 yrs… two different fine dining places owned by a restaurateur in fairly sizable city, chain Italian place, the list goes on, & I love to cook. Have a voracious appetite when it comes to learning about food & adore Asian cuisine in particular, (I could live at Momofuku & Morimoto- yes, perhaps cliche, but SO amazing). Yet, something always brings me back to comforting dishes like this. I’ve made it exactly per Dave’s recipe, have changed up by adding freshly shredded carrots &/or some torn up organic roasted ckn, also subbed spinach for shitake shrooms. Must try!
I wish I had read the reviews first. It was, as many said, bland and dry and too much spinach and for all that work and clean up and cost it was terrible. Now I’ve got this huge casserole and I have to figure out some way to make it edible. What a waste, what a bad recipe. It really is a lot of work and a lot of dirty dishes, etc.
Not good. Dry and bland, even though after reading the
reviews, I added hot pepper flakes and parmesan cheese.
What a waste of time and money…not to mention all those
dishes and bowls to wash. I’m very disappointed.
I can’t believe I just threw away a whole pan of pasta.
Just so you know: My family and I have thoroughly enjoyed
some of the desserts from your cookbook though.
reviews, I added hot pepper flakes and parmesan cheese.
What a waste of time and money…not to mention all those
dishes and bowls to wash. I’m very disappointed.
I can’t believe I just threw away a whole pan of pasta.
Just so you know: My family and I have thoroughly enjoyed
some of the desserts from your cookbook though.
My family loved the recipe – made 2 batches because my one son has to eat gluten free. So when making the sauce I did add extra spice & parmesan for flavour, & used fresh spinach not frozen. Couldn’t get Smoked Mozarella, but did get Smoked Goats Cheese & it was equally good & full of flavour. To everyone wanting to “throw” this recipe away – try it with your choice of seasoning added before you do that. This is a good basic recipe. It’s a keeper.
Good idea to add the cheese.
I just took this out of the oven, and it is sooo good! I read the comments about blandness before I made the dish, so I substituted one cup of chicken stock for one of the cups of milk and added parmesean cheese to the “bechemel” sauce, and sprinkled in Italian herb mix to the ricotta spinach mixture. There are a number of layers of flavor, though none are too strong, overall I’m a huge fan-
Like many of the other reviewers, I was excited to try this recipe because it included spinach and ricotta, a typically delicious flavor combination. However, I found the dish bland, and I even made some changes in an attempt to increase the flavor. I included lots more chopped onion and garlic than the recipe indicated and I also stirred plenty of parmesan and romano into the spinach/ricotta sauce. This produced a lot of dirty dishes but only mediocre results. On the plus side, I enjoyed drinking the remainder of the bottle of white wine I purchased for use in this recipe.
I love all the ingredients in this dish and was looking forward to a great dish for dinner, but I was very disappointed with it. It was ok, but very bland. My family rates all the new recipes I try, and they said this was a throw away recipe. It looks much better than it tastes.
Simple to make. Different and very good tasting!
Add xtra spinach..used fresh..really good