| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 55 min |
| Active: | 40 min |
| Yield: | 4 to 6 servings |
Ingredients
- Nonstick cooking spray, for the baking dish
- 1 pound rigatoni
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- Pinch crushed red pepper flakes, or more as desired
- 1 pound turkey or pork Italian sausage, casings removed
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 bunches Tuscan kale, stemmed and roughly chopped
- Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 pound fresh whole-milk ricotta
- 1/2 cup grated fontina
- 1/2 cup grated part-skim mozzarella
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
Instructions
- Preheat the broiler. Spray a 9-by-13-inch ceramic or metal baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted, boiling water until about 2 minutes less than package instructions. Reserve 1 1/2 cups pasta cooking water. Drain and set aside.
- Meanwhile, heat a large Dutch oven or heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Heat the olive oil in the pan, then add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and starting to brown at the edges, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook until the garlic is very aromatic, another minute. Add the sausage and cook, crumbling into small chunks with the back of a wooden spoon, until browned all over, 4 to 5 minutes. Add 1 cup pasta water to the pan and scrape up any of the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Pour in the heavy cream and cook, stirring frequently, until it comes to a simmer. Stir in the kale, then cover the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until the kale is wilted and tender and the heavy cream has thickened, another 4 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle the nutmeg and about 1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper on the kale (taste here, as your sausage might have different seasonings). Remove from the heat and stir in the ricotta until just combined, followed by 1/4 cup each of the fontina and mozzarella. Add the pasta and stir until it is coated in sauce and the cheese starts to melt, adding pasta water if the mixture seems too thick. Taste and season with a little more salt, pepper and red pepper flakes if desired.
- Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish and top it with the remaining 1/4 cup fontina, 1/4 cup mozzarella and the Parmesan. Broil the pasta until the cheese is brown and bubbling, about 5 minutes. Serve immediately.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 6 servings |
| Calories | 1176 |
| Total Fat | 81 g |
| Saturated Fat | 39 g |
| Carbohydrates | 73 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 6 g |
| Sugar | 7 g |
| Protein | 41 g |
| Cholesterol | 229 mg |
| Sodium | 1010 mg |
Reviews
I really was interested in making this but 1 serving for 6 people is over 1100 calories and over 81 gms fat and 229 gms cholesterol. So for just me I will make half = 3 servings total and only eat half a serving to give me 6 half servings. Salad on the side. Oooffff!!
A delicious, filling, and easy weeknight meal that allows for any number of substitutions based on what you’ve got handy. We used Johnsonville mild Italian sausage, 5 oz. baby spinach, Monterey Jack, mozzarella, and parmesan.
This was delicious but taking off a star because of the serving size. I cut everything in half and ended up with six servings.
I split this in half and froze one. When I wanted to use the frozen one I let it defrost in the fridge. Baked it at 375 covered with foil for 30 minutes then uncovered for another 10-15. It was even better than the one I didn’t freeze.
So delicious!! Definitely going to make again. Thank you Katie. Love the Kitchen!!!
This was fantastic! I added roasted butternut squash also. I definitely needed some extra pasta water to make enough sauce. Will def make again
Easy enough to make but mine had way to much liquid The cream and cheese didn’t seem to thicken up at all. Flavor was somewhat one note even with extra pepper flakes. For the price to make it of $20 dollars, it wasn’t worth it.
Great recipe! Hearty-and yummy for a fall dinner. Made recipe with no substitutions and had half for todays dinner and freezing the other half for another time.
Was disappointed on how soupy it was. Had to bake if in a 375 oven for 40 minutes . Also lacking some flavor… maybe add some sage or Italian seasoning to it.
This will be a regular in our house. I browned the sausage onion and garlic all at once in a large cast iron skillet. Then I built the rest in the same skillet. The sauce was a little thin so I put the whole thing into the oven at 350 to absorb some of the sauce. It was really delicious.