| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 1 hr 10 min |
| Prep: | 25 min |
| Cook: | 45 min |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- Butter, for greasing pan
- 2 tablespoons (or more) olive oil
- 6 ounces pancetta, chopped
- 4 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 7 cups whole milk
- 8 ounces Fontina cheese, grated
- 4 ounces mozzarella cheese, grated
- 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
- 6 ounces provolone cheese, grated
- 1 pound rigatoni pasta
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups fresh coarse bread crumbs
- Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Instructions
- Butter a 13 by 9 by 2-inch baking dish. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add the pancetta and saute until golden and crisp, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the pancetta to a small bowl. Pour off all but 1/4 cup of the pan drippings (if necessary, add more oil to the pan drippings to equal 1/4 cup total). Reduce the heat to medium. Add 3 teaspoons of garlic and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the flour and whisk for 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in the milk. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the sauce thickens slightly, whisking often, about 5 minutes. Gradually whisk in all the Fontina, mozzarella, Parmesan, and provolone cheeses.
- Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the rigatoni and cook until almost al dente, stirring occasionally, about 7 minutes. (The pasta will continue cooking in the oven.) Drain pasta and add directly into the cheese. Add the parsley, basil, and pancetta and toss to coat. Season the pasta mixture, to taste, with salt and pepper. Transfer the pasta mixture to the prepared dish.
- Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add the remaining garlic and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Remove from the heat. Add the bread crumbs and toss to coat. Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture over the pasta mixture. Drizzle the top with extra-virgin olive oil and bake until the sauce bubbles and the bread crumbs are golden brown, about 20 minutes.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 8 servings |
| Calories | 964 |
| Total Fat | 53 g |
| Saturated Fat | 25 g |
| Carbohydrates | 79 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Sugar | 15 g |
| Protein | 42 g |
| Cholesterol | 117 mg |
| Sodium | 1141 mg |
Reviews
This is a lovely dish. A few modifications & pointers: Definitely use whole milk, no subs. I went with 3 cups whole milk & 2 cups of heavy cream & 1/3 of pasta water for the sauce. I added broccoli & 2 pinches of nutmeg, also doubled the garlic in the sauce & breadcrumbs. Cooked for 20 min as recommended, then bumped to 425 for 10 min – that seemed to do the trick. We topped it with a Cajun chicken, it was excellent.
This is a wonderful dish. I always add some chicken to it so it is a whole meal for my family. The kids and adults both love it.
This is my go to for special occasion get togethers! Amazing!
I made this dish for fast weekday meal. Took a little longer than I thought it would take but well worth it! I added mushrooms to the dish and that additional flavor was great! I did use all the sauce so I froze it to use for another time. I didn’t want it floating in the cheese sauce. I would for sure make this dish again
This was great and a lot easier then I thought.
I thought the finished dish was lacking, especially with all the quality ingredients used. I didn’t add the additional garlic to the breadcrumb topping but otherwise followed to the letter.
The sauce was not creamy but gritty and the basil & pancetta flavors were barely noticeable.
I’m usually a fan of Giadia’s recipes but this will not make it into the rotation.
People don’t want to take the time to make a dish because “its time consuming”…..foods are sooo much better when time can be taken to make something completely from scratch instead of prepackaged. If you need time make it on a weekend. People will find that actually cooking and making things the way they are intended is the way it should be.
ok. i love giada but this recipe is not good for leftovers. A day later and its awefull. Its pretty boring. compared to all of her other recipes. Im not normally a fan of mac and cheese. I left out the meat. It was a lot of work and really expensive.
This is a great recipe, and yes it does take a bit of work. However, with a food processor, grating the cheese was much easier (takes seconds. Also, has anyone else realized there is WAY too much sauce in this?? I had to use half as much milk/cream/cheese in order to have the right amount of sauce for the 1 pound of pasta. The first time I made this, I had so much sauce, I needed to make a second pound of pasta to balance it out. I opted to use pre-made seasoned breadcrumbs for the topping and it works perfectly (and less hassle. People complaining of taste, you should be seasoning it to taste before putting it in the oven. Also I like to experiment by adding different cheeses in this recipe – like smoked gouda. :