Baked Rigatoni with Ricotta and Meat Sauce

Baked pasta is undoubtedly one of those universally comforting dishes. While there are more elaborate and “authentic” versions out there, I’m sure you can think of some standout classics like lasagna or Pastitsio, this is not one of them. The kind of authenticity this dish has is that of a South Philly Italian pizza and pasta joint. The servings are generously portioned, and some would say there is too much cheese, I say just enough.

It’s a pretty classic baked pasta dish with a quick meat sauce. Notice that I emphasized “quick” because this isn’t a slow-cooked Sunday gravy or a fancy Ragu situation. It’s more like the kind of sauce you’d find in a cafeteria lunch, quick and made shortly before being served, and personally, I had the best cafeteria food while growing up (so I say that with complete sincerity). The sauce consists of tomatoes, onions and ground meat. It’s layered with ricotta cheese before being generously topped with Parmesan. Correction: showered with parmesan. And once it’s baked to golden, bubbly perfection, it’s ready to be devoured.

One of the reasons I love this dish is how quick it is to make, in terms of active cooking time. This means you can easily whip it up on a weeknight. Additionally, it’s a breeze to scale up if you need to make larger portions. Double or even triple the recipe (I dare you!) and freeze the extra servings. Your future self will be incredibly impressed with your foresight. Moreover, it fulfills all the comforting aspects one seeks in a baked pasta dish, and contains all the essential food groups: pasta, meat, cheese – there’s lots of it.