Baked Rigatoni with Roasted Cauliflower

Baked pasta sounded good, sort of like lasagna but slightly easier. I'll admit it, lasagna looks a lot prettier when it's plated. The rigatoni looks like heart valves, which isn't exactly appetizing. If you can get past that, you'll find this pasta dish actually tastes pretty good. I really like the cauliflower and had a hard time stopping myself from eating all of it before it went into the dish.

Baked Rigatoni with Roasted Cauliflower
from Cooking Club
click to print

4 c cauliflower florets (1 inch) (1 medium head)
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 lb. rigatoni (tube-shaped pasta)
4 c slightly packed spinach, coarsely chopped
1 lb. bulk Italian sausage
2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
4 large garlic cloves, minced
2 (28-oz.) cans diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 c shredded Romano cheese (4 oz.)
2 c finely shredded mozzarella cheese (8 oz.)

Heat oven to 425ºF.

Toss cauliflower and oil in large bowl to coat; place on large rimmed baking sheet.


Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven; reduce oven temperature to 350ºF.

This cauliflower is delicious - make extra to snack on.

Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain; cool under running water. Drain well. Place in large bowl; toss with spinach.
 
Tossing the drained pasta with the spinach just meant the heavy pasta tended to settle to the bottom of the bowl while the fluffy spinach gradually migrated to the top.

Heat large deep skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Crumble sausage into skillet; cook 6 to 8 minutes or until browned, stirring frequently. Add rosemary and garlic; cook over medium heat 30 seconds or until fragrant, stirring constantly.

After 5 minutes, the sausage is nearly completely browned.

Stir in tomatoes, salt and pepper.


Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; cook 12 to 15 minutes or until sauce is slightly thickened, stirring occasionally and adjusting heat as necessary.

My sauce was only slightly reduced after 30 minutes; I made the mistake of reducing the heat to a simmer once it reached boiling.

Coat 13x9-inch glass or ceramic baking dish with cooking spray. Spoon in enough of the tomato sauce mixture to lightly coat bottom of dish.


Layer with half each of the pasta, cauliflower, tomato sauce and Romano cheese.


Sprinkle with generous 1/2 cup of the mozzarella cheese.


Repeat layers, ending with remaining mozzarella cheese. (Rigatoni can be made to this point 12 hours ahead; cover and refrigerate. Uncover; adding an extra 5 to 10 minutes to baking time.)


Bake at 350ºF. 40 to 45 minutes or until browned and bubbly. Remove from oven; cover loosely with foil. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.



Having forgotten that the spinach would leak moisture as the dish baked, I really wish I'd reduced my sauce further. You can see in the plated image that it was watery. If you try this, be sure to boil the sauce for 15 minutes and avoid the tendency to to reduce the heat once it reached a boil like I did. With all that extra moisture, the rigatoni on the bottom of the dish was quite flaccid. The texture of the rigatoni on top was certainly the opposite; some of them poking out of the sauce and cheese were crunchy. I kind of liked it.

I'm not sure what the point is of combining the rigatoni and spinach in a bowl. As said above, the heavy rigatoni sort of rolled to the bottom of the bowl while the fluffy spinach floated to the top. Otherwise, prep made sense, the dish came out to be tasty; the cauliflower alone is reason to do it again. For all the time and cost though, you may as well do lasagna!

Cost:

• cauliflower: $4.83
• extra-virgin olive oil: $0.09
• rigatoni: $2
• spinach: $1.69
• Italian sausage: $3.99
• fresh rosemary: $1
• garlic: $0.15
• diced tomatoes: $1.92
• Romano cheese: $3.59
• mozzarella cheese: $2

Total: $21.26 or about $2.66 for each of 8 servings.

Grocery List, 120113

Having eaten scrambled eggs for Thanksgiving, I thought I would throw down some serious grub over the weekend and indulge. Instead my computer gave me the blue screen of death and then wouldn't boot up and turned into a whole bunch of fuck you.

Baked Rigatoni with Roasted Cauliflower
Buttermilk Chocolate Cake
Baked Oatmeal Pudding

Ralph's

• yeast: $2.59
• old-fashioned oats: $3.49
• rigatoni: $2
• vegetable oil: $2.59
• Romano cheese: $4.49
• whole milk: $1.99/ half-gallon
• mozzarella: $3.99/lb
• cauliflower: $4.83/2.70 lb
• spinach: $1.69/bunch
• ginger root: $0.48/0.16 lb
• garlic: $0.50/bulb
• steel-cut oats: $2.99
• organic cage-free eggs: $3/dozen
• Johnsonville sausage: $3.99/lb

Total: $38.62

Cost of Take-Out Lunch, Week Ending 112913

Monday: Teddy's Deli on a coworker
Tuesday: Bravo Burgers for two: $20.12
Wednesday: McDonald's? Whatever it was, it was $4.53
Thursday: Thanksgiving!
Friday: holiday

Total: $24.65
Total for the year: $1489.63

Pumpkin Rice Pudding

Pumpkin rice pudding? It sounds kind of good and kind of sick at the same time. I like rice pudding quite a bit so it's good enough reason as any to try it.

Pumpkin Rice Pudding
adapted from Cooking Club
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15-oz. pumpkin puree
1 c sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 (12-oz.) can evaporated milk
2 eggs, beaten
2 c cooked medium-grain rice
1/2 c raisins
1/2 c chopped pecans

Heat oven to 350°F.

Whisk pumpkin, 1 cup sugar, cinnamon, ginger, salt and cloves in large bowl.


Stir in evaporated milk and eggs.


Stir in rice, raisins and 1/2 cup pecans.


Pour into 11x7-inch glass baking dish. Place in shallow roasting or broiler pan. Add enough water to come about 1 inch up sides of baking dish.


Bake 15 minutes; stir well. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

The back portion of the pudding is not really that dark - it's an artifact of lighting. The stab wounds in the pudding is indicative of how many times I checked it for done-ness.

Cool 20 minutes. Store in refrigerator.



Originally planning to bring this to work, the licks taken from the knives used to check for done-ness convinced me to keep it at home to I could continue taste-testing the entire dish. There is a whipped topping that was part of the original recipe, but I chose to skip it. I didn't think this rice pudding needed whipped cream and additional nuts.

Cost:

• sugar: $0.96
• evaporated milk: $0.88
• eggs: $0.95
• rice: $0.80
• raisins: $0.82
• pecans: free from Mom

Total: $4.41 or about $0.37 for each of 12 servings

Pumpkin-Pecan Sticky Buns

Once upon a time, I worked at a place that sold caramel-pecan sticky buns and they sold like hot cakes, as did the ooey-gooey cinnamon rolls. This recipe looked like similar to those sticky buns of long-ago days but pumpkin-ized, so I went with it even though I don't have a stand mixer.

There's no way I'm going to bake twelve rolls and eat them all myself. The gluten-free coworker more inclined to eat treats is going to be out of the office so it's a fine time to bake some sticky buns without having to fool around with some gluten-free flour. I've been meaning to do this recipe for a while but the idea of baking rolls twice, back-to-back, or only doing them gluten-free with potentially poor results was a turn-off. What she doesn't know won't hurt her. ;)

Pumpkin-Pecan Sticky Buns
from Cooking Club
click to print

ROLLS
5 1/2 to 6 c all-purpose flour, divided
2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 c warm water (110ºF. to 115ºF.)
1 tsp plus 1/2 cup sugar, divided
1(1/4-oz.) pkg. active dry yeast
2 eggs
15-oz pumpkin puree
1/3 c unsalted butter, melted

FILLING
1/2 c unsalted butter, softened
1/2 c sugar
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 c coarsely chopped pecans, toasted

GLAZE
1 c packed light brown sugar
1/4 c unsalted butter
1/2 c pure maple syrup

Whisk 4 cups of the flour, salt, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ginger and 1/2 teaspoon cloves in large bowl.


Combine warm water and 1 teaspoon sugar in another large bowl. Sprinkle with yeast; let stand 5 minutes or until foamy.


Beat remaining 1/2 cup sugar into yeast mixture at medium speed until combined.


Beat in eggs until blended.


Beat in pumpkin and melted butter until combined.


At low speed, beat in flour mixture until well-blended.


With dough hook attachment if available, beat in remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until dough forms. Increase speed to medium; beat 5 minutes or until dough is smooth but slightly sticky.

Without a stand mixer, I just did the best I could with a spatula.

On lightly floured surface, knead dough by hand 2 to 3 minutes or until smooth and elastic.

I dumped another 1/2 cup of flour onto my dough, kneaded it in, then added about 1/4 cup more.


Smooth and elastic ball of dough.

Place in large buttered bowl; cover.

I smeared what was left on the butter wrapper on my bowl. It worked great.

Let rise in a warm place 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in size.

Meanwhile, toast pecans if you haven't already by baking at 350°F for 6 to 8 minutes or until slightly darker in color. Cool.


Beat all filling ingredients except pecans in large bowl at medium speed until combined.


Spray 13x9-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

Bring all glaze ingredients to a boil in medium saucepan over medium heat.


Boil 2 to 3 minutes or until slightly thickened. Pour into pan.


Gently punch down dough.

It took three hours and 20 minutes for my dough to double.

On lightly floured surface, roll dough into 20x14-inch rectangle.


Spread filling over dough; sprinkle with pecans.


Starting with short end, tightly roll into log; press edges to seal. With sharp knife, cut into 12 rolls; place, cut-side up, in dish.

I guess I started with the long end?

Cover; let rise in warm place 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in size.


Meanwhile, heat oven to 350ºF.

Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes. Run small knife around edges to loosen.


Place parchment paper-lined large rimmed baking sheet over rolls; invert onto baking sheet. Cool on wire rack 15 minutes to serve warm, or cool completely.



Even though I used only about 4.75, maybe 5 cups of flour total, the rolls were giant and puffy. They were puffed enough that some of the caramel was oozing over the sides of the dish by the time they were done baking. The center-most rolls turned out much more soft and tender than the outer rolls, though I'm not sure why except that they were insulated by the outer rolls. If that's the case, would I be better off baking enough rolls to use a half-sheet so there's more insulated rolls! Maybe baking them for 32 minutes was too long.

I took them to work and didn't have one left to bring home. Overall, time-consuming (particularly since my rolls took an extra hour to rise after punching down) but not difficult, worth doing again.

Cost:

• flour: $0.40
• sugar: $1.02
• active dry yeast: $0.90
• 2 eggs: $0.95
• unsalted butter: $0.95
• pecans: free from Mom
• light brown sugar: $0.28
• pure maple syrup: $2

Total: $6.50 or about $0.54 for each of 12 rolls.