Italian Rigatoni Pie

Pretty cool right? I had this pinned for while and finally made it. I was suppose to make it a couple of night ago but I realized the Rigatoni I had was too short! It was not that hard to make. I made the sauce on Sunday and then put the pie together last night and Chris baked it when he got home tonight.

I found this recipe on One Little Project. I did make a couple of revisions. No I did not use jarred sauce.

Ingredients-
1 pound Rigatoni
2.5 cups of Meat Sauce
2 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 cup Parmesan cheese
1 container ricotta cheese
1 large egg
1-1/2 to 2 cups mozzarella cheese

Method-
Cook the Rigatoni in a large pot of salted, boiling water. Cook it about 1 minute less than the package directions so it is still hard enough to stand up. Drain the pasta and rinse under cold water.

Toss pasta with 1 Tablespoon of oil to prevent it from sticking. Then add the Parmesan cheese and toss until the cheese is evenly distributed. Set aside.

Mix together the container of ricotta and the egg. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Grease a 9 inch springform pan.

Take the cooked rigatoni and stand each piece up on its end in the pan. Continue until the whole pan is tightly packed. It is easier to do if you tilt the pan while stacking the pasta. Tilt is so it is almost on its side.

Pour the cheese mixture over the rigatoni and spread evenly over all the noodles.

Pour the meat mixture over top and spread evenly over the noodles. Use your finger to poke the meat and cheese mixture down into the noodles. The more patience you have with this step, the better it will be.

Bake for 15 minutes at 400F.

Remove from the oven and top with the mozzarella cheese.

Bake for another 15 minutes at 400F.

Let stand for 10 minutes then run a knife around the edge of the pan to help remove the springform pan.