Baked Mushroom Rigatoni with Kale Gremolata

  • Level: Intermediate
  • Yield: 6 to 8 servings
  • Total: 55 min
  • Active: 15 min
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Ingredients

Pasta:

1 pound rigatoni

Kosher salt 

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 

1 pound assorted mushrooms, stemmed, sliced into 1/3-inch pieces 

3 tablespoons unsalted butter 

3 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled 

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 

3 cups whole milk 

2 1/2 cups grated Parmesan

2 cups grated Gruyere

Gremolata:

2 cups chopped Tuscan kale (3 to 4 leaves)

1 cup grated Gruyere

1 cup panko breadcrumbs 

1/2 cup smoked almonds, chopped 

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons lemon zest (2 lemons)

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. For the pasta: Cook the rigatoni in a large pot of generously salted boiling water until al dente, about 3 minutes less than the package directions. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking water.
  3. Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large Dutch oven. Sear the mushrooms, undisturbed, for 3 minutes; stir, and season with 1 teaspoon salt. Sear on the reverse side an additional 2 minutes. Remove the mushrooms from the pan.
  4. Lower the heat to medium and melt the butter in the Dutch oven. Add the garlic and flour, and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Whisk in the milk and simmer gently until the sauce just thickens, 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the Parmesan, Gruyere and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Let cool slightly, then add half of the seared mushrooms, and puree with an immersion blender.
  5. In a large bowl, toss the pasta with the sauce and the remaining half of the mushrooms, adding about 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta water or more if desired. Transfer to a baking dish.
  6. For the gremolata: In a medium bowl, combine the kale, Gruyere, panko, smoked almonds, olive oil and lemon zest.
  7. Scatter the gremolata over the pasta and bake until golden on top and bubbling, about 40 minutes.

Let's Get Cooking!

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choccvrd

So delicious!!! The sauce alone is restaurant worthy and I was so pleasantly surprised when I made it; I could have licked the whole pot clean. A couple of things: I modified the topping by leaving out the lemon and almonds. I substituted fresh spinach for the kale. It was a nice crunchy contrast to the creaminess of the dish. I can see how the lemon may have cut through the richness, but we didn’t miss it. At the very end of using our immersion blender, I made the decision to add some fresh thyme leaves. I felt it needed an added note of fresh herbs. When I poured the sauced pasta into our baking dish, I added about 1/3C of the pasta water by drizzling evenly over the top to prevent dry out. We will make this again for sure. Perfect for company or a holiday meal. Thank you!

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