Baked rigatoni with meatballs recipe

Details

• Cuisine: American
• Recipe Type: Pasta
• Difficulty: Easy
• Preparation Time: 30 mins
• Cooking Time: 35 mins
• Serves: 4

Step-by-step

1. First, make the tomato sauce. Heat a little olive oil in a saucepan and add the sliced garlic. Cook until golden brown.
2. Then add the tomato purée (paste). Cook for 5 minutes to cook out the flavour.
3. Add the chopped tomatoes. If it's a little thick, add some water.
4. Keep on a low heat and cook for 3 hours.
5. Now, make the meatballs. Place all the ground meat in a large bowl. Crack the egg on top and add the parmesan, breadcrumbs, parsley, 2 teaspoons salt, the pepper, chilli flakes, garlic, 4 tablespoons olive oil, and 2 tablespoons water.
6. Mix with your hands. Make sure to dig deep with your fingers and use your shoulders to really work the mixture.
7. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place two spoons in a cup of water – use one spoon for scooping and the other for scraping off. Make sure to dip your spoons into the water every other scoop. Scoop 1 tablespoon meat and scrape it onto the baking sheet. Make little rows until done. Lightly coat your hands with oil and form the meat piles into perfect little balls.
8. Preheat the oven to 205°C/400°F/gas mark 6.
9. In a cast iron dish or deep frying pan, pour 12 mm/½ inch of oil and set over medium-high heat. Place the balls in the pot, but don’t overcrowd the pot. Brown the meatballs in batches and place on a rack while you build your casserole. The casserole will be built hot so it just has to brown in the oven.
10. In a small pot, heat the gravy. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta until al dente. Check the pasta every few minutes to make sure you’re not overcooking. It'll also bake in the oven and you don’t want mushy rigatoni.
11. Drain the pasta and pour most of it into a 23x33 cm/9x13 inch baking dish, then add enough sauce to cover the pasta and stir. You don’t want the casserole soupy and you don’t want it dry; you can always add, but you can never take away. Building by eye once all the ingredients are ready means you can add more sauce, meatballs, and rigatoni depending on your tastes.
12. Stir the cubed mozzarella into the casserole, then add as many meatballs as you want.
13. Stir to evenly disperse everything, then cover with a few ladles of sauce and the shredded mozzarella.
14. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the edges are almost burnt, the cheese is golden brown, and the sauce is bubbling.
15. Remove from the oven and let rest 10 minutes.

This recipe is from Matty Matheson: A Cookbook by Matty Matheson (Abrams, £26.99). Photographs by Quentin Bacon and Pat O'Rourke.