Rigatoni with Spiced Meat Sauce
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Everyday Food, November 2008
- Prep Time 20 minutes
- Total Time 30 minutes
- Yield Serves 4
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Ingredients
- Coarse salt and ground pepper
- 12 ounces rigatoni or other short pasta
- 1 pound ground lamb or beef chuck
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 cup tomato paste
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 tablespoon red-wine vinegar
Directions
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until al dente; drain, and return to pot. Set aside.
- While pasta is cooking, cook lamb in a large saucepan over medium-high, breaking up with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, 3 to 5 minutes. Add onion and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is tender, 4 to 6 minutes.
- Stir in tomato paste, cinnamon, and cayenne, and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add 1 1/2 cups water; bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and cook until slightly thickened, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in vinegar, and season again with salt and pepper. Add sauce to pot with pasta, and toss to combine.
Good recipe...the lamb gives it lots of flavor. I also think you can't go wrong adding some extra salt and pepper, or even extra cinnamon.
The nutrition info from the print version is: 569 cals, 16.6g fat (6.7g saturated), 21.9g protein, 67.1g carbs, 2.8g fiber.
The meat sauce was good, but the cinnamon was way too strong for my tastes - it ended up overpowering the recipe for me. It did add a very nice dimension to the sauce, so I don't think I would remove it, just reduce it to maybe 1/8 tsp. Otherwise, it was quite good and I will make it again with my modifications.
This is one of those great recipes that tastes wonderful the night that it's made and even better when it's heated up for lunch the next day. When I microwaved my leftovers, I added a little bit of water to moisten the pasta.
Yum! We like spicier food so I used 1/4 tsp of Cayenne pepper and 1/4 tsp of cinnamon and it turned out great. Super easy to make!
PLEASE - NUTRITION INFORMATION!!!!
I get rave reviews every time I make this! Most people are surprised about how well the cinnamon works with the pasta and meat sauce. Delicious!!!
I used the ground beef. The cinnamon is not overly prevalent; the overall combination of tastes is something quite interesting. We (kids included) also liked it and have added it to our lineup. A good meal to prepare after a day at the office (it was easy, and you will be sitting down to eat in about 30 mins).
I too, was reluctant to make this as i have never had a cinnamon-flavored pasta sauce before but it was a surprising combination that has made its way into my weeknight dinner rotation!
I was hesitant to make this as it seemed too easy, and there were no comments. I am so glad I did, it was delicious! The best part was how easy it was, I will definitely make this again!