Name: Cheesy Italian Rigatoni Torta
Ingredients: 1-1/2 pounds of rigatoni; olive oil cooking spray; 2 – 3 Tbsp. olive oil; 2 cups parmesan, parmiggiano-reggiano, fresh and finely grated; 2 – 3 cups home-made Bolognese sauce (I use my family’s recipe that I keep tubs of frozen sauce in my freezer); 16 oz. ricotta cheese; 1 jumbo egg; 2 tsp. Italian herbs of your choice: dried or freshly minced oregano, Italian parsley, basil, thyme, sage, pepperoncini and/or garlic; 2 cups finely shredded mozzarella; 1 cup finely shredded parmesan, parmiggiano-reggiano

Ingredients

Units Scale

1–1/2 pounds of rigatoni
olive oil cooking spray
2 – 3 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cups parmesan, parmiggiano-reggiano, fresh and finely grated
2 – 3 cups home-made Bolognese sauce (I use my family’s recipe that I keep tubs of frozen sauce in my freezer)
16 oz. ricotta cheese
1 jumbo egg
2 tsp. Italian herbs of your choice: dried or freshly minced oregano, Italian parsley, basil, thyme, sage, pepperoncini and/or garlic
2 cups finely shredded mozzarella
1 cup finely shredded parmesan, parmiggiano-reggiano

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Instructions

Instructions
Boil water in a tall, deep pan.
Add about a half teaspoon of salt to the water.
When water is boiling, add the rigatoni pasta noodles and boil for only 3 minutes.
Remove immediately.
In a large bowl, add the olive oil.
Then add the rigatoni and toss until all noodles are coated with olive oil.
Add the 2 cups of parmesan/parmiggiano and toss so that the noodles are covered with cheese.
Spray the bottom of a 9 or 10″ springform pan with olive oil cooking spray.
Layer a little bit of Bolognese sauce on the bottom of the pan.
Place the rigatoni noodles vertical around and completely filling the pan.
Mix ricotta, egg, and herbs.
Pour this mixture over the panful of noodles.
Gently tap down so that the mixture can get into and around the noodles.
Layer Bolognese sauce on top next and again gently tap down to get the sauce in the noodles.
Sprinkle the mozzarella all over and then sprinkle the parmesan/parmiggiano cheese on top of the mozzarella.
Place the springform pan on a pizza pan or baking sheet to prevent the cheese from melting all over the oven.
Bake in a 400 F degree oven for 20 minutes on the lowest rack, and place a pizza pan or baking sheet on the top rack to use as an ‘umbrella’ to help prevent the top of the torta from burning.
Turn the heat of the oven down to 350 F degrees and bake for another 15 minutes, watching so that the top does not burn.
Remove from the oven and allow it to set for 15 minutes before serving.
Better yet, let the torta set overnight and reheat the next day. This helps prevent the torta from falling apart just after baking.
When ready to serve, take a very sharp, thin knife and run it as close to the inside wall of the springform pan ring in order to ‘loosen’ the rigatoni noodles away from the pan walls.
Slowly and carefully, remove the springform ring.
With a long knife, run the knife between the bottom of the torta and the bottom of the springform pan base.
Slice, serve, and ENJOY!!!!

Notes

If you don’t have homemade Bolognese sauce on hand, then you can use your favorite pasta sauce with sautee’d beef and pork blended in. But for the real deal . . . use homemade sauce whenever possible.