I made Ina Garten's cheesy baked pasta with ragu sauce, and she's right - it's the perfect comfort food

Anneta KonstantinidesMar 27, 2021, 17:24 IST

Insider

I recently made Ina Garten's baked rigatoni with lamb ragù from her new cookbook.
The pasta recipe tastes like a cross between a bolognese and baked ziti.
While the prep takes a lot of work, Garten says you can make part of the recipe a day in advance.

Ina Garten's baked rigatoni with lamb ragù is the newest recipe in her repertoire of comforting pasta dishes.

Garten's baked rigatoni with lamb ragù is in her new cookbook, "Modern Comfort Food." Nathan Congleton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversa/Getty Images

Garten's baked rigatoni with lamb ragù includes red wine, two types of cheese, and a lot of veggies.

Garten's pasta recipe also includes fresh mozzarella and rigatoni pasta. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

Before we got to work on the ragù, we began prepping all our vegetables.

First I chopped the carrots and onions. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

We also prepped the garlic, fennel, and fennel seeds.

Then we prepped the garlic, fennel, and fennel seeds. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

Then we heated olive oil in a Dutch oven and began adding the ingredients.

We sautéed the onions and carrots for 10 minutes. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

Then we added the lamb, along with the garlic and fennel seeds.

We let the lamb cook for eight minutes. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

The room filled with a delicious scent as we threw in the rest of the sauce ingredients.

We added our tomatoes and red wine to the mix. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

Then it was time to let our beautiful sauce simmer.

Garten calls for the Dutch oven to be partly covered while it simmers. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

While the sauce was simmering, we prepped our rigatoni.

We cooked our rigatoni until it was barely al dente. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

After 40 minutes were up, it was time to add more red wine to the sauce.

You can never have enough red wine. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

While waiting for the pasta to finish cooking, we prepped the cheese.

We tried to grate the mozzarella before switching to a knife. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

Once the pasta was ready, we tossed in the eggs and cream.

The eggs and cream get added into the barely al dente rigatoni. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

Then we added our mozzarella to the pasta and tossed everything in with the lamb ragù.

We tossed our pasta in an egg and cream mixture before adding it to the sauce. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

It was finally time for the last step as we transferred the pasta into a baking dish.

We topped everything off with mozzarella slices. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

Once our pasta was hot and bubbling, with that beautiful crust on top, we knew it was time to eat.

Once the dish was ready, we sprinkled fresh parsley all over the top. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

We served Garten's baked rigatoni with lamb ragù alongside her "outrageous" garlic bread, and it was the perfect meal for a small dinner party.

Garten's "outrageous" garlic bread was also a hit. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

I made Ina Garten's 'outrageous' garlic bread and it's my new favorite side dish

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