Stuffed Rigatoni Recipe – Rigatoni Imbottiti

This glorious stuffed rigatoni recipe is inspired by Puglian rigatoni imbottiti, where pasta tubes are stuffed with a heady mix of mortadella, provolone, mozzarella and ricotta before baking with tomato sauce. A fantastic comfort food dish for the colder months.

Tomato sauce
olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, sliced
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
150ml of red wine
800g of tinned San Marzano tomatoes, chopped
1 handful of rocket
1 handful of basil leaves
salt
pepper
Filling
150g of ricotta
100g of Provolone cheese, grated
75g of mozzarella cheese, grated
100g of mortadella, finely diced
1 egg
salt
pepper
To assemble
300g of rigatoni pasta
50g of mozzarella cheese, torn into pieces
pecorino, grated
basil leaves

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Piping bags

To begin, make the tomato sauce. Sauté the onion and garlic in a splash of oil until soft. Add the thyme and red wine

Reduce the wine by three quarters. Add the tomatoes and simmer for 25 minutes, until the sauce has thickened

Stir in the rocket and basil leaves and turn off the heat. Set aside

Cook the rigatoni in salted boiling water until al dente. Drain and toss with a little olive oil to stop the pasta sticking together

Mix the filling ingredients together in a bowl, season with salt and pepper and transfer to a piping bag

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4

Pipe some filling into each rigatoni tube and place the filled pasta in a baking dish

Pour half of the sauce over the pasta, giving a gentle stir to coat evenly, then pour over the rest of the sauce. Spread the torn mozzarella over the top then cover with a generous grating of Pecorino. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes

Season with freshly ground black pepper and garnish with fresh basil