Recipe
1 box or 1 pound of rigatoni pasta.
1 cup of mozzarella cheese or cheddar shredded (use your favorite cheese)
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup of ground parmesan cheese
For The Meat Sauce:
4 ounces of chopped pancetta
1 whole onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 pimento pepper, chopped (Trinidad seasoning pepper) OPTIONAL
1/2 pound ground beef
1/2 pound ground hot Italian sausage
2 tablespoon tomato paste
1 28 ounce can of tomato sauce
2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon oregano
2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoon pepper flakes
11/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup fresh chopped basil
For The White Sauce:
1 8 ounce tub of ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
5 leaves of fresh basil
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 egg yolk
Directions
Make the White Sauce:
To a food processor add everything under the For The White Sauce ingredients list. Process to a smooth mixture.
Pour into a bowl and set aside.
Make the Meat Sauce:
To a large skillet, heated under medium flame, add the pancetta to render.
Once the pancetta has crisped up, add the onions and sauté until soft and translucent about 2-3 minutes.
Add in the garlic and peppers. Allow to cook for a minute.
Add in the ground beef and the ground Italian sausage. Using a spoon start breaking up the meat while it is cooking. Try to break it up as small as possible. Once the meat has turned brown, add in the Tomato paste and stir.
Add in the tomato sauce and allow to cook for 5 minutes. Add in the fresh basil, oregano, Italian seasoning, sugar, pepper flakes, salt and black pepper mix thoroughly.
Place the heat on Simmer and cover. Let it simmer on Low heat for 10-15 minutes.
To Assemble the Pie:
To a round cake pan, pour in 1/4 teaspoon of the vegetable oil and rub it all around with a paper towel.
Cook the pasta in a pot of boiling water with salt for 8-10 minutes. Stirring it constantly for the first 2 minutes to make sure it does not clump together.
Drain and run it under cold water.
Spread the pasta out on a cookie sheet and pour the rest of the vegetable oil over it and mix it in.
Once the pasta has cooled enough to handle, start adding it to the pan, going around in a circle and standing it upright.
This is going to take a little bit of work and patience.
once you have the pan filled with the pasta, pour in the white sauce and spread it all around. Try smooshing it into the holes without breaking the pasta.
Then pour the meat sauce over it and spread that out as well.
Sprinkle on the cheddar or mozzarella cheese and add the ground parmesan cheese.
Cover with a tin foil and bake for 30 minutes @ 350 degrees. Remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
Let it cool a little before taking the sides off and slicing. if you have extra meat sauce you can pour it over the cooked pie!
