Indulge in the ultimate comfort food experience with our baked rigatoni recipe featuring hearty country sausage and creamy béchamel sauce. It’s perfect for cozy family dinners or gatherings with friends.
Enjoy!
Baked Rigatoni with Country Sausage
Giorgos Tsoulis
The perfect comfort food: baked rigatoni with delicious country sausages and bechamel sauce. Ideal for lunch or dinner.
Place a pot with plenty of salted water over medium to high heat. Once the water boils, add the rigatoni and boil for 7-8 minutes.
Place a pot over high heat. Once hot, add a little olive oil, the sausages and sauté for 2-3 minutes, until golden brown.
Add the onion, garlic, stir with a wooden spoon and sauté for 2 minutes.
Add the canned tomatoes, rigatoni, thyme, stir and cook until the sauce thickens.
Remove the pot from the heat, pour its contents into a rectangular casserole, measuring 33x25cm (13×10 inches), and set it aside.
Preheat the oven at medium-high heat (190 °C/ 375° F), grill mode.
For the bechamel sauce:
Place a pot over medium heat and add the butter. Once melted, add the flour and roast for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly with a hand whisk.
Add the milk in batches, stirring constantly with the whisk. Season with salt and pepper and cook until the béchamel sauce thickens, stirring frequently.
Pour the bechamel sauce over the rigatoni and bake for appx. 10 minutes until the bechamel sauce turns golden.
Serve the rigatoni warm.
Notes
Chef’s tip: We stir constantly with a hand whisk when we add the milk to the bechamel sauce, so that it does not become lumpy.
Celebrity Chef Giorgos Tsoulis specializes in modern Mediterranean cuisine and his recipes are widely appreciated not just in Greece and Cyprus but also around the world.
He has been the executive chef of numerous successful Greek restaurants, while at the same time hosting many popular culinary TV shows in Greece and Cyprus. Giorgos Tsoulis is passionate about educating his fans in more sustainable and healthy cooking and eating while making the most of the flavors of the ingredients.
As sustainable cuisine ambassador for WWF Hellas, he plays a key role in cooking activations that relate to the European #Eat4Change program, as well as the #Farm2Fork program.
