Italian Rigatoni and meatballs

Meatball Rigatoni combines juicy beef meatballs with al dente rigatoni in a simple tomato sauce, topped with cheese then oven baked.

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 20

Total Time: 30

- Preheat your oven: to 180°C / 350-375°F / Gas Mark 4-5.
- Baking dish: spray a large baking dish with cooking oil then set aside.
- Meatballs: add the beef mince, panko breadcrumbs, garlic powder, onion powder, dried parsley, salt, pepper and egg to a medium bowl. Use clean hands to combine. Then take a mini cookie scoop and portion out a small amount of the mixture. Place the portion onto a chopping board and then repeat till all of the mixture is portioned. Then working 1 by 1 using the palms of your hand to roll the portions into meatballs.

- Cook meatballs: place a large sauté pan on the stove, turn the heat to high and add the olive oil. Then use kitchen tongs to place the meatballs into the pan. Cook them, using a wooden spoon to move them around in the pan and kitchen tongs to flip to the other side. The meatballs will take 8 to 10 minutes to cook. Once cooked use a slotted spoon to remove the meatballs and place them on a paper towel lined plate.
- Rigatoni: read and follow the instructions on the package for the pasta to cook it in a medium saucepan of boiling salted water. Test a bit when almost done and if it is a little bit chewy still that will be perfect. Next use a colander to drain the rigatoni and discard the pasta water.
- Tomato sauce: use some paper towel and tongs to absorb the excess oil from the saute pan. Then turn the heat to low and without rinsing the pan add the passata, diced tomatoes, tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce. Use a wooden spoon to give these a stir to consistently mix together. Note 5
- Combine: add the drained hot pasta to the sauce and gently stir to fold together. Then drop the meatballs into the pasta and sauce mix in.

Baking dish: next transfer the combined pasta, sauce and meatballs into the greased baking dish. Use a wooden spoon to push to mix into the corners and down slightly so that it is in an even (ish) layer.
Cheese layer: sprinkle both types of cheese over the surface of the dish.
Oven bake: then place the baking dish into the oven on the middle shelf and allow it to cook for 10 to 15 minutes.
To serve: once the cheese has melted and turned golden brown use oven mitts to remove the pasta bake from the oven and rest it on a heatproof surface.
Garnish: season the melted cheese layer with black pepper and then sprinkle some basil leaves over the top. Grab some bowls, forks and spoons and get ready to dive in!

- Note 1 – Passata: thick and smooth with a robust tomato flavor. This is the key ingredient to the sauce.
- Note 2 – Diced tomatoes: these give both a lovely flavor and texture in the recipe. Go for a plain tin with no additional herbs or spices
- Note 3 – Tomato paste: thick and rich, this adds a lovely depth of flavor in the simple combination of ingredients used to make the pasta bake sauce.
- Note 4 – Worcestershire sauce: this is known for adding a little oomph to recipes. Give the bottle a shake before you use it.
- Note 5 – Excess oil: we don’t need to clean or rinse the pan after cooking the meatballs, as we have started to create the flavors, but there is leftover oil in there from cooking the meatballs and we don’t want this in the dish/sauce. So grab some paper towel and tongs and absorb the oil and once done you can discard the paper towel.