CHORIZO
I’ve never been a fan of the concept of marriage in relation to humanity, but I’ve always been fond of the marriage of food cultures. Mexican food has always been a wonderful treat to me. I would travel far and wide throughout the DMV just to get a taste of good Mexican or Latinx food while in college; trust that there are always options, but it’s hard to find the best. During one of my food ventures, I got to experience chorizo and discover what a true meat should taste like. It was full of flavor: savory, smoky and spicy. Chorizo had everything I needed and more. It could make a blind man see. It could make a deaf woman hear. It could make a Corliss cry, and it definitely did. Now I’ve never been able to decide between the tears being of joy or reaction to the spicy taste. Chorizo was an experience.
I’ve never been a fan of the concept of marriage in relation to humanity, but I’ve always been fond of the marriage of food cultures. Similar to how I spoke about my affinity with Italian cuisine starting with The Sopranos, pasta is the exact same way. Ever since seeing Tony feed countless goomah’s I’ve been obsessed with using different pastas and making different pasta dishes. Rigatoni is no different. The robust shape along with the ridges create a micro-valley to bury a barrage of flavors; the pasta was meant to be used with red sauce; the pasta was meant to be paired with chorizo.
The idea of replacing ground beef, pork or veal with chorizo came more out of necessity. During a very late grocery run, I saw the store was out of my favorite ground beef. What a pity, right!?! Nevertheless innovation struck me and I got the great idea to use pork chorizo. As I evolved so did the dish, I started to diversify the dish. What you’re witnessing is the peak of this dish. I could make a quirky comparison of this dish’s peak to the peak of the ridges in a rigatoni pasta, but I digress. I’ll digest the food instead.
chorizo baked rigatoni
ingredients:
red sauce:
18oz. ground pork chorizo
9oz. ground beef chorizo
2 cans 28oz. whole peeled tomatoes
1/2 parmesan rind, grated (it better be good quality)
1T tomato paste
1 small white onion, diced
6 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 basil stem
1T Mexican ground thyme
3T olive oil (optional)
salt & pepper to taste
salsa:
2 dried red guajillo chilis, deseeded + chopped
2 dried pasilla chilis, deseeded + chopped
2 dried California chilis, deseeded + chopped
1 small white onion, roughly chopped
2 roma tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 habanero pepper, deseeded + roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled
water
1T Mexican ground oregano
salt & pepper to taste
béchamel sauce:
3T butter, melted
3T flour
2c milk
pasta & whatever:
1lb. rigatoni pasta (duh)
8oz. mozzarella rind, grated
8oz. oaxaca ball, grated (if you can’t find this, you can buy another mozzarella rind)
16oz. cottage cheese
2 eggs
1 1/2 parmesan rind, grated (it better be good quality)
1 basil stem, chopped
aluminum pasta pan (mine was 19.5 x 11.5 inches)
Helpful items:
dutch oven
wooden spoon
micro grater
cast iron skillet
food processor
aluminum foil
small whisk
recipe (salsa):
Heat medium cast iron skillet to high. You want this pan to be seriously hot, so you can burn/sear the ingredients. Add the chilis and toast for 1-2 minutes. Add the onion, garlic, pepper and tomatoes and cook until darkened texture is met. 1-3 minutes. Fill pan with water until ingredients are covered. Add oregano. Cook until simmer is met. Immediately take skillet off heat and allow ingredients to cool for 10-15 minutes.
Optionally: you can sear those ingredients on one of the stove’s eyes. But, I prefer to use a pan rather than damaging the stove.
Add cooled ingredients to food processor, slowly add some of the water from pan and blend until paste texture is met. You can add more water if pasta is too thick (I personally like mine a bit thick). Set aside.
red sauce (serious):
Heat dutch oven until medium-high and place chorizo inside. Cook for 4-6 minutes or until chorizo has slightly darkened. Take chorizo meat out but keep fat inside of dutch oven. You better not clean that pot with all that good fond!
Place onions inside pot and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add garlic and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes. Add both cans of whole peeled tomatoes—use wooden spoon to crush tomatoes on the side of the dutch oven. Add chorizo back in. Stir well. Add basil stem, grated parmesan and thyme. Stir well. Allow pot to reach a boil. After pot reaches boil, immediately turn heat to medium-low and partially cover pot. Cook for 1 1/2-2 hours while occasionally stirring. After about 40 minutes, pour in 3/4c of the salsa mixture from above. Stir well. Fish out the basil stem once sauce has finish cooking/reduced. It should have the consistency of a light bolognese
béchamel:
Pour butter and flour into a small pot on medium-high. Whisk and allow very light roux to form. Pour milk inside while continuously whisking. Whisk. Whisk. Whisk. Once sauce has thicken and can cover the back of the spoon, take sauce off heat and set aside.
baked rigatoni:
In a small bowl, mix cottage cheese, eggs, 1/2 parmesan rind and chopped basil. Set aside. In a medium size bowl, mix grated oaxaca and grated mozzarella together. Set aside.
In a large pot, boil slightly salted water and pour rigatoni inside. Cook for 8-10 minutes or until rigatoni is slightly tinder. Do not overcook. Pasta will be baked in the oven as well.
Heat oven to 350F. In your pasta pan, pour cooked pasta, béchamel sauce and cottage mixture from step 1. Mix. Add 1/4 of the cheese mixture from step 1. Mix. Add about 2c of red sauce. Mix. Add another 1c of red sauce. Cover with rest of cheese mixture from step 1. Add a generous amount of grated parmesan on top of the cheese. Bake for 12-14 minutes. Turn oven to broil and bake for 6-8 minutes while closely monitoring. Enjoy!
