So tonight we wanted to try a recipe from Rachael Ray. His really likes her show, and when His is home he watches it "almost" every day ~ sometimes he gets so inspired by her recipes that he serves the dish for dinner. Tonight His has promised to make Rachael Ray's Hot Sausage, Pepper and Onion Ragu with Rigatoni and Provolone Besciamella. We have posted the link at the bottom of the post. The instruction were pretty clear and simple, but as His was going through the list we realiced that a few changes were needed. His used regular green and orange pepper instead of the listed cubanelle peppers. To help with the seasoning His also used pre maid sausage. Instead of using all pork His used 1.2 pounds of ground turkey and 1 tube sausage. His does not have the luxury of having gourmet butcher available, and could therefor not find pancetta or speck so we just used BACON! His also forgot to purchase Provolone, but we had a block of cheddar in the fridge ~ it worked out perfectly. From prep to table one should plan about 1.5 hours. If you start the sauce first, both the noodles and besciamella will be ready at the same time. One should make sure that the onions and peppers are tender like the instructions state. When it comes to the seasonings it depends on how much "kick" you want. We His makes this again he will not add as much cayenne (add half of what the recipe says). :)
The Besciamella sauce was simple enough. It worked out great.
Once all the parts were done and ready, it was time to combine and serve. At this point the anxiety starts to set in. We have guest over and His has never made this dish before.
His and Her had just been given a "family" sized casserole dish. Rigitoni went in, then the sauce and finally the besciamella. The ingredients just barely fit. His popped it into the oven to broil for not very long. ** keep and eye on it or it will char before you can catch it.**
Once it was broiled His is telling the house that once it comes out of the broiler it will be ready. It looked fantastic coming out of the oven and once set on the table you can really smell everything. Very nice.
Now for the taste test. Everybody loved it. This dish gives His' custom lasagne dish a run for its money as the favorite pasta dish. Depending on you personal taste, His and Her decided it was just a bit to spicy.
His' review of the dish: Very direct and simple to follow, flavorful and plenty of food for an army.
Here is the link to the recipe
okay--made something that resembles this recipe only slightly (based on a shopping list provided by "her"). i used italian sausage and ground turkey (hungry family)--red and yellow peppers, cooked with onion; deglazed with red wine. i stirred in ricotta ("her" idea) and topped with a basic bechamel sauce (no provolone). the kids are raving and on their way back for seconds! i'm waiting--with the remaining red wine--for my man to return from "bringing home the bacon" to dine with him. thanks for this blog! i'm always in need of dinner inspiration.
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