Baked Mezzi Rigatoni with Pork, Kale and Mushrooms

 

So, today’s post is about comfort food but still trying to be good. Is that even possible?

 

We hosted some friends in town recently and they stayed with us for one night so I wanted to cook up a nice, home cooked meal. These guys had just in fact climbed Mount Rainier! Yup, you heard me right. They were out there for ONE week. 5 days climbing up that bad boy and coming down. They went with professional mountain climbers and a group so they were in great hands. .  but they were there for one week, with no running water, no shower, no bathroom (well, not what we would call a bathroom) and they were carrying everything they needed for that week, on their backs (40 lbs I think)!

 

The first thing I asked John when they got to our house- after, “Wow! Congrats! You freakin’ climbed Mt. Rainier” – was: “Dude, what have you been eating this entire week?”  and “so, this means you haven’t showered in a week huh?”

 

So, when it was confirmed they were coming over for dinner I started cooking. .  John and Tae were tired, hungry and had just spent a week eating dried food and  nuts ..  so I had to whip out my specialty. .  to me, this dish says home cooked at its best. .  and it makes the kitchen smell amazing.  I made my Pork Shoulder Ragù. . . and I was going to make Mac n Cheese to go with it. .  because I’m thinking these guys would love some Mac n Cheese right about now, right? Wrong! Well, at least one of the guys. . .

 

John comes into the kitchen and comments on the amazing smell of the pork cooking and asks me what’s for dinner. .  so I tell him Pork Shoulder Ragù. .  and he politely asks me to not put any cheese, especially not Parmigiano-Reggiano on his . . . Well, I am floored because I have never before in my life met anyone who doesn’t like Parmigiano-Reggiano! Come on!!! Are you freakin’ kidding me? It’s freakin’ wonderful. How can you eat any pasta dish without  freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano?  And while I am pulling myself together mentally. .  I say, “OK but you like Mac n Cheese right?” Well, friends. Seems I met the first person I know who does not like mac n cheese. Well, other than my 5 year old daughter. He doesn’t eat cheese at all. No cheese. Nothing. He can barely eat pizza with mozzarella cheese on it. .  the smell bothers him and I think he might have even said it kind of makes him want to hurl. Like, it’s that bad.

 

So, after it hits me that a non-cheese lover person is standing right there in my kitchen, I go to Plan B. Pork Shoulder Ragù with Orecchiette pasta, no cheese. At all. Usually when I cook, I am only cooking for my family so – again, thinking these guys are going to be freakin’ hungry- I cook up almost 4 lbs of pork shoulder. I know. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking. Maybe I was just excited to cook up a larger quantity, I don’t know.

 

Needless to say, we had left overs. And lots of it.

 

Which brings us to this lovely Baked Mezzi Rigatoni dish that I made tonight. I successfully used up the rest of the pork shoulder ragù. And I must say, this Baked Mezzi Rigatoni was freakin’ delicious. I just had to say “freakin” one more time in this post.

 

When I think of baked pasta, I usually think of fattening ingredients like heavy cream and lots of cheese (like ricotta). Well, I tried to stay as healthy as possible with this one. There is no heavy cream and I added a lot of vegetables.  . just how I like it! See, that’s the beauty of a baked pasta dish- you can throw in just about anything you want.

 

Variations:  If you don’t have time to make the