Summer Garden Baked Rigatoni
This Summer Garden Baked Rigatoni is a pasta dish you’ll remember. This made from scratch meal is a great way to use up the over abundance in the garden.
Happy Summer!
I hope you all are doing well and enjoying the warmth of summer! It’s been hot, maybe a little too hot where I’m from. It’s been the summer of swimming. We invested in a small pool for the kiddos and I can tell you it was worth every penny. Speaking of swimming…if you’re swimming in tomatoes and zucchini like me then this is the perfect dish! This Summer Garden Baked Rigatoni is truly a taste of summer with all the tomatoes, zucchini and fresh herbs from the garden. It surly will please anyone! Even your picky ones and meat eaters. I have to say my family really enjoyed this one and the leftovers were delicious!
It’s currently the end of Aug and most of our tomatoes are starting to ripen. We are having a hard time keeping up. I’ve decided not to can much this year or anything to be exact. It looks like we’ll be eating a ton of fresh salsa and also our favorite summer meal ratatouille ( I still need to add a blog post about that recipe ) But for now you can find the how to video here ⬇️
Every year is so different
It really depends on what’s going on in life as to what you can accomplish. Just to fill you in…I went months not being able to cook or even be around food hence the absence on here. It really made it tough to keep up on things and make my YouTube videos as well but all the nausea and sickness I’ve encountered has been for a good cause. I really missed writing and creating. I’ll do my best to keep up as our newest addition arrives 😁.
For this blog post I’ll keep it short and sweet 😉…You can find the how to video on my Youtube channel and all the instructions for the recipe below. Feel free to pin it on Pinterest or share it with a friend!
Summer Garden Baked Rigatoni
Course: DinnerCuisine: Pasta dishDifficulty: Moderate6
servings30
minutes1
hour20
minutesIngredients
9 cups fresh diced tomatoes (Any tomato from the garden will do)
1 medium sized zucchini sliced
1 onion -diced
6 cloves of garlic -diced
Handful of fresh herbs- Rosemary, parsley and basil
Salt & Pepper- season to taste
Red pepper flakes
1 Box of Rigatoni
Fresh Mozzarella- thinly sliced
Directions
- First you’ll want to gather all your ingredients and dice your onions, garlic and tomatoes.
- Next using your favorite pot drizzle in some olive oil. Once your oil is up to temp you will be sautéing your onions on medium heat. Make sure to season them with some salt and pepper. After a couple mins you can add in your garlic. Sprinkle in a dash of red pepper flakes. This will give it a great flavor. Continue to sauté for a couple mins and then add in your Zucchini. Let your zucchini cook until it softens and absorbs all those great flavors. You’ll want to add a handful of chopped fresh rosemary as it cooks and remember to season with some salt.
- Now you’re ready to add in all those garden tomatoes. I used 9 cups this time but if you have a little less no problem. Use what you have. You’ll want to cook these on medium to high heat until you begin to start seeing them break down and look more like sauce. I cooked min for about 50 mins. Lastly add in those fresh herbs. And check your sauce for seasoning. If it needs salt add it.
- As your sauce cooks it’s time to start your rigatoni noodles. Follow the directions on the box. Mine took about 12 mins. After your noodles and sauce are ready you can put this dish together.
- Grab your favorite baking dish. I’m using a smaller one. My kids prefer pasta with no cheese so I’ll be dishing them up separate. I used a 8×13 baking dish for this but feel free to use one a little bit bigger. I did have a little container of extra sauce left over.
- At this point preheat your oven to 350
- Start by adding some sauce to your baking dish, then add some noodles. Make sure to toss the noodles in some sauce. Add more sauce on top then add sliced mozzarella on the top. If you’d prefer to use grated cheese that works too.
- You’ll want to bake your dish at 350 uncovered for 10 mins, then increase the heat to 450 for until the top of the cheese has some color. Lastly you can garnish the top with some basil leaves.
- And that’s it! You’ve just turned your garden tomatoes into some delicious zucchini marinara. Not only the sauce you’ve created a dish, a delicious baked rigatoni. I hope you and your family enjoy this one!!
Recipe Video
Notes
- Leftovers are delicious!
Enjoy,
❤️April
Learn. Garden. Cook. Repeat.
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