So What? No Fu*kin’ Ziti, Now

• total tid: 52 minutes

Ingredienser

2 28-oz cans whole peeled tomatoes

1 ½ lb rigatoni

1 whole head of garlic

1–2 tbsp tomato paste

1 tbsp sugar

1/2 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup pesto

2 cups freshly shredded Mozzarella

1 cup grated Parmesan

Instruktioner

Add both cans of tomatoes to a large bowl and crush with your hands. Don’t be a prude, it’s fun.

Peel and slice the garlic thin. Heat a couple glugs of olive oil on medium-low and add all the garlic. The goal isn’t to get a lot of color here. The goal is soft, tender, fragrant garlic you can bite into.

Season the garlic with salt and lots of black pepper, add the tomato paste, and cook it down until it starts to caramelize. Add the tomatoes plus about a cup of water to clean out the cans. Partially cover and let it simmer to cook off that canned tomato taste. About 15-20 minutes. Preheat your oven to 375.

Once the sauce reduces a bit, add the sugar to balance things out and stir in the pesto. Turn off the heat before the sauce gets too thick.

Boil the rigatoni 3 minutes under package instructions, drain, and mix it straight into the sauce so each piece of pasta is coated in the sauce. At this point I felt like there wasn’t enough sauce for my pasta so I got a little nuts and added about 1/2 cup of heavy cream. LIVE A LITTLE.

In a large casserole dish, layer half the pasta, half the mozz and parm, the rest of the pasta, and top with the rest of the mozz, parm, any leftover pesto, and a drizzle of olive oil. Bake for about 30 minutes, then broil for a couple minutes at the end so the cheese gets bubbly and some of the pasta gets crispy. Take out of the oven and let it sit for 20ish minutes before serving.