The perfect one-pot dinner pasta that’s light, creamy, cheesy, and comforting. Made with mushrooms, asparagus, and peas baked in a cheesy white sauce that’s ready in just 30 minutes.
The recipe is very simple and only has a few ingredients. All which are available regularly at any grocery store. It’s the perfect weeknight friendly meal when you’re tight on time and want to serve up something that goes beyond warm noodles with store bought sauce.
The mozzarella and romano cheeses melt together beautifully to add extra creaminess to the sauce, and the choice of vegetables are light enough that they don’t overpower the cheese sauce and overwhelm the dish rather they tuck away nicely into the rigatoni and add the right pop of colour.
This is a great dish to make ahead of time and can be kept refrigerated if eating within hours/days or in the freezer. Simply follow the steps up until baking and cover the dish and store as intended. When time to serve, let the dish come to room temperature a bit while the oven is warming and bake as directed.
The perfect one-pot dinner pasta that’s light, creamy, cheesy, and comforting. Made with mushrooms, asparagus, and peas baked in a cheesy white sauce that’s ready in just 30 minutes.
Prep Time5 minutesmins
Cook Time25 minutesmins
Total Time30 minutesmins
Course: pasta
Servings: 6
Author: the communal feast
Ingredients
1pkg rigatoni pastacooked according to package directions (454g)
2TBSbutter
2cupsbutton mushroomssliced thinly
Salt and pepper
2TBSflour
2cupsmilk
Reserved pasta water
½cupromanograted
1 1/2cupmozzarellashredded
1cupasparagustrimmed and chopped coarsely
1cupfrozen peasthawed
Fresh parsley for garnish
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spray an oven safe baking dish with cooking spray (9×12) and set aside.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and cook the pasta according to instructions, until al dente. Scoop out 1 cup of the pasta water before draining and toss lightly with olive oil to keep it from sticking, set aside.
3. In a large skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Add the mushrooms cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes until tender and browned seasoning with salt and pepper. Add flour and cook stirring an additional minute. Slowly add the milk, whisking until smooth and begins to thicken. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer once it starts bubbling. Add the asparagus and peas and cook an additional minute. Remove from heat and add romano cheese and 1 cup of the mozzarella, reserving the rest for topping. Season with salt, and pepper if needed. Whisk until melted and completely smooth. If the sauce is too thick add a bit of the pasta water if needed.
4. In the baking dish, combine the cooked pasta and pour over the vegetables with the sauce tossing to coat and combine. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake on the middle rack until the top begins to brown uncovered for 15 minutes.