Recipe: Marion’s Baked Pipe Rigate With Spicy Vodka Sauce

This recipe gives the humble pasta bake a sexy makeover through the addition of vodka, an interesting pasta shape and the very generous sprinkling of the best Grana Padano you can get your hands on. This is ideal home cooking for large groups – easy to prepare (the sauce can be made in advance) and perfectly accompanied by simply dressed salad leaves, some crusty bread to tear apart and mop up the sauce, and a big glass of something red and delicious.

Other short pasta shapes also work well, however there is nothing quite like the sauce “catchability” of pipe rigate.

Go heavy on the cheese and take the caramelisation as far as you dare – some black crunchy bits are what this is all about. If your oven is struggling to get the top well caramelised, switch over to the grill setting for a couple of minutes at the end, keeping a close eye on it. If you serve a salad on the side, make sure it has a good hit of vinegar (I love a good red wine vinegar) as a counterpoint to the richness of the sauce and cheese.

For more free recipes – from weeknight winners to weekend projects – sign up to our Cooking newsletter.

Marion’s baked pipe rigate with spicy vodka sauce

Serves 4–6

Ingredients

30g unsalted butter

1 onion, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

170g tomato paste

1½ tsp dried chilli flakes

Salt flakes, to taste

60ml (¼ cup) vodka

400g tinned whole tomatoes

250ml (1 cup) thickened cream

500g fresh pipe rigate (from select delicatessens and grocers, including Morning Market)

Grana Padano, for grating

Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Method

Heat a wide, deep frying pan over medium heat. Add the butter, then once it’s melted,add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring, until the onion turns translucent. Add thetomato paste, chilli flakes and a couple of pinches of salt and cook for 5 minutes, stirringconstantly to prevent the sauce from catching.

Add the vodka, carefully light it up with the burner or a lighter, scraping the base of the pan,then add the tinned tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for15 minutes until reduced. Pour in the cream, stir to combine, then simmer for a further2 minutes. Remove from the heat, and allow to cool a little before blending with a stickblender until smooth.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 240°C. Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of boilingsalted water for 30 seconds. Drain well, pour into a large bowl, then add the vodka sauceand stir well to coat.

Tip the pasta and sauce into a baking dish, liberally cover the top with Grana Padano anddrizzle with olive oil. Bake for 10–15 minutes until cooked through and the top is wellcaramelised. Crack some black pepper over the top, drizzle with a little more olive oil andserve in the middle of the table.

This is an extract from the Broadsheet cookbook The New Classics, which features 80 all-new recipes by Melbourne’s top cooks, chefs and restaurants. Published by Plum, the book is available for $54.99 at shop.broadsheet.com.au.