The Story
Ah, rigatoni. For all of the incredible shapes and fillings out there, all of the carefully handcrafted pasta that we obsess over, there’s just something indescribably special about these chewy, ridged, extruded tubes. Even as a kid, I remember secretly hanging out for the dried supermarket rigatoni, despite always having a freezer full of fresh pasta. A big bowl of rigatoni with thick tomato sauce and a huge mound of grated cheese can fix just about anything.
Even though we love our extruded pasta, and have posted a few recipes before on social media, this is actually the first time that we’ve featured one on our blog. Rest assured, this dough recipe always works for us, for any extruded pasta, so we’re excited to be sharing it with you now! That said, if you ever have any difficulties with our recipes, get in touch and we’ll problem-solve together.
Now, rigatoni deserves a good sauce; one that can cling to and fill the pasta, and of course be loaded with outrageous amounts of grated cheese. So, based off one of our earliest blog posts, the family favourite sugo, this week’s rigatoni is served with a thick tomato sauce and veal and eggplant meatballs. The smell of a rich sauce cooking all day is hard to beat, but there is something magic about the smell of that sauce meeting a fresh bowl of pasta. With cheese on top. Perfection.
Yes, despite definitely not enforcing it, we do actually eat our meatballs as a second course. Or at least, on the side with veggies. They just look so good nestled up alongside a hearty bowl of pasta that it’s hard to resist plating them together.
Finally, don’t stress if you don’t have a pasta extruder. We don’t want to exclude anyone here! Try checking out our tortiglioni recipe for a handmade alternative, or really pick any other pasta of ours – it’s hard to find a variety that won’t pair nicely with a classic tomato sauce!
The Pasta
Forget what you know about pasta dough! Or at least, non-extruded pasta dough. The key to success with an extruded dough is keeping it crumbly, although still moist enough to compress into little balls. To achieve this, we always measure our water on top of our eggs. That is, the eggs make up some of the ‘water’ volume. Gradually add the egg and water as you crumble the dough together with your hands, until it clings together a bit like breadcrumbs and butter. It should hold when pinched together between your fingers. Rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, and stick the extruder plate in there too. This just helps to prevent the dough clogging everything up as the machine starts to warm.
Drop the dough into the extruder in roughly walnut sized balls, and chop it off at rigatoni length (about 45-50mm). Note that some extruders will take a few minutes to get going after the first lumps of dough are added in. Dry your rigatoni out in the fridge for up to a week, or cook and eat immediately. Lightly salted water, high boil, until no raw (white) dough is visible when you chomp into them.
For the sauce, roast the eggplants and discard the skin, then mix them in with the other meatball ingredients. Get your fingers in there and work it to a smooth, even consistency! The eggplants may really change the moisture level of the meatballs, so be prepared to add more or less breadcrumbs.
Next up, the good old soffritto. Do not rush this bit! The soffritto is the heart of the dish. Cook it slowly, on low heat, stirring regularly, before you add in the basil and passata. Once the sauce is bubbling, drop in the meatballs, lower the heat, and cook mostly covered for at least 3 hours. For the first couple of stirs, try to shuffle the pot instead of sticking a wooden spoon in there. These meatballs are particularly soft, and need a few minutes to compose themselves.
Once reduced to your liking, scoop out the meatballs and stir in the cooked pasta. Serve with a whole heap of grated cheese. Enough to not even see what you’ve spent all that time cooking.
Thank you so much for joining us again this week. May the smell of slow-cooked tomatoes fill your house, and firm sauce-filled pasta fill your belly.
– Al & Al.
Equipment
- Pasta extruder, or Kitchenaid Stand Mixer with pasta extruder attachment; rigatoni extruder plate
Ingredients
Pasta
- 280 g plain flour
- 280 g semolina
- 2 eggs
- 180 ml cold water note: minus the volume of the eggs, ie. add the eggs to your measuring jug first and then bring to the mark with cold water
- 1 tsp salt
Meatballs
- 500 g veal mince
- 400 g eggplant approximately 200g to 1 average size eggplant
- 20 ml olive oil extra virgin (we used Rio Vista Olives' Gigi)
- 120 g breadcrumbs
- 2 eggs
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- Zest of half a lemon
- Small sprig of oregano
- Salt and pepper to taste
Sauce
- 120 ml olive oil extra virgin (we used Rio Vista Olives' Gigi)
- 1 onion diced
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 1.4 litres passata
- Small handful of basil
- 1 tsp sugar
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Pasta
- To prepare the dough, whisk the egg into the water, and then gradually stir it through the plain flour, semolina, and salt. Mix it together using your fingers for about 10 minutes, before refrigerating for half an hour. Note that the dough should look and feel a bit like buttered breadcrumbs, but hold together when pinched between your fingers. Add a small amount of water if it’s too dry.
- Set your extruder to its top speed, and feed in loosely clumped balls of dough, around the size of walnuts. Avoid overfilling, and note that it may take a few minutes of the dough being kneaded inside the extruder before it begins to come out.
- Chop the pasta using an extruder cutter or sharp knife as it reaches desired rigatoni length, around 45-50mm.
- Transfer to a baking paper lined oven tray, and refrigerate uncovered for up to a week.
Meatballs and Sauce
- Cut the eggplants in half, drizzle with 20ml of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt, and then roast in a 200 degree Celsius oven for 35 minutes. Allow to cool, and then scoop out the flesh, discarding the skin.
- Combine all other meatball ingredients with the eggplant, knead together until all ingredients are smooth and evenly distributed, and then roll into balls.
- Add the onion and 6 minced garlic cloves into a large cold pot, with the olive oil. Cook on very low heat for 15-20 minutes, stirring continuously, until the onion is translucent. Add the basil and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
- Pour in the passata, and then use a good 300-400ml of water to swish out any passata left in the bottle, adding it into the pot. Add the sugar and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Raise the heat to medium, and once bubbling carefully drop in the meatballs. These meatballs are particularly soft, so take care when stirring. For the first 10-15 minutes, we often rotate the pot back and forth a few times instead of stirring.
- Lower the heat right back down and cook mostly covered for 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Keep an eye on the moisture and add a little water if it starts to look too dry. Remove the meatballs.
- Cook the pasta in a large pot of lightly salted boiling water for 2-3 minutes until they float and no raw dough is visible when the pasta is cut into. Drain, and stir into the sauce.
- To serve traditionally, reserve the meatballs for second course; otherwise, plate it all up together. Cover with a liberal serve of hard cheese (our favourite is pecorino Romano).
