Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Baked Rigatoni with Ricotta and Collard Greens

Inspiration:
Cottage Living
and seen on Erin's blog and Food alla Puttanesca


Ingredients:
  • 1 (16-ounce) package rigatoni or penne pasta
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 pound collard greens, washed, drained, and chopped
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cups milk
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella
  • 1 cup ricotta cheese
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:
  1. Prepare pasta according to directions. Drain and set aside. Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease a 13- x 9-inch baking dish.

  2. Heat butter in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat; sauté onion 5 minutes or until just brown. Add garlic, and cook about 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium-low, and add greens; cover and cook 15 to 20 minutes or until greens are tender, stirring occasionally.

  3. Sprinkle greens with flour. Cook uncovered, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Gradually add milk, stirring well. Cook 5 minutes, stirring often, until thickened and smooth. Remove from heat; stir in cooked pasta, mozzarella, and next 5 ingredients. Place into prepared dish, and sprinkle evenly with Parmesan.

  4. Bake at 350° for 15 to 20 minutes.


Notes:
I love cooked collards in pasta, and they hold their shape so much better than cooked spinach, which can become mushy. This would be a nice dish for vegetarians, but if you're an omnivore who eats pork, I'd probably suggest Linguine and Collard Greens with Bacon first. :)


Tim's Rating: 8/10
Liz's Rating: 8/10

3 comments:

10yearstogether said...

This is a dish I would probably be able to make! Looks so good.

Generic Cialis said...

if you want to eat something delicious, light, cheap and succulent dish, well try this, the riccotta cheese is soo delicious and give to any recipe a singular delicious.

Anonymous said...

I am just picking some greens from the garden today and stumbled up this recipe...can't wait to try it tonight!!! It was hard finding a good vegetarian method to prepare collards