Father Feeds Flock!!!

I have seen this recipe on Pinterest many times, so I thought it was time to pull the trigger. Basically, it's lasagna.   Just a lot more fun! First, take 1 lb of rigatoni and cook it until it is almost done.   Save the last bit of cooking for the oven. Drain the pasta and run cold water over it, or an ice bath to stop the cooking. Grease a 9 inch springform pan, and put the pasta, standing on its end, to fill the pan. Now for the cheese.  Combine cottage cheese (or ricotta), and egg and some parmesan cheese and spread it over the top.  Take some time to try to get some of the cheese into the middle of the pasta.  You want to end up with filled tubes. Next is the meat.  I chose to go with turkey, but beef or pork is probably more traditional.  Either use a jar of spaghetti sauce, or make your own like I did.  So easy.  ...

Zachary requested ravioli for dinner the other day, so I thought... This will be easy.  Open a can, heat and serve....NOT! If you have ever read this blog, you know that would not be happening. He told me that he wanted beef, but I though cheese would be a better option.  So I, of course, made both! The first thing I did was browned the meat so that it could cool down.  This is so the pasta doesn't start cooking from the heat/steam from the cooked meat.  I simply added some garlic, finely chopped onions and a small amount of marinara.  Set that aside to cool.  I then created the cheese mixture.  ricotta, egg and some grated parmesan. The next step is the pasta.  Flour, salt and eggs were kneaded together to create a ball of pasta.  I used whole eggs, with some additional yolks.  This helps with the egginess of the pasta, as well as that nice slightly orange color.  After letting it rest for about 30 minutes, I began puttin...