Creamy Truffle Rigatoni
Blog: www.nextinlime.com
Servings: 4 sides
Ingredients
- 8 ounces (227 g) rigatoni pasta - uncooked
- 1 teaspoon olive oil - or any cooking oil, to prevent pasta from clumping
- 3 tablespoons (42 g) unsalted butter - (Note A)
- 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
- 2 cloves garlic - large cloves, finely minced
- ½ cup (118 ml) chicken or vegetable broth/stock - low sodium (Note A)
- ¾ cup (237 ml) heavy whipping cream
- ½ cup (50 g) parmesan cheese, freshly grated - press down tightly into the cup to measure (Note B)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon black truffle oil - (Note C)
- some finely chopped parsley - optional, for garnish
Instructions
- In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil. Cook your rigatoni pasta until it's al dente, following the package instructions (See Note D). Once cooked, drain in a colander. Just before draining, reserve a small amount of pasta water for later. To prevent pasta from sticking together, drizzle olive oil on it and then gently and carefully mix it.
- While the pasta is cooking, melt butter in a skillet over medium-low heat. Once melted, sprinkle in the flour and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Stir constantly. Then add minced garlic to the bubbling mixture and sauté for about a minute – while continuing to stir.
- Next add broth / stock, mix well and let it cook for one minute.
- Pour in the heavy whipping cream and stir until the mixture is smooth. Bring it to a gentle simmer. Then reduce the heat to low and allow to cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until the sauce slightly thickens.
- Add grated parmesan cheese (reserve a small portion for garnish), salt and pepper. Stir until the cheese is completely melted and the sauce turns nice and smooth. Turn the heat off.
- Mix in the truffle oil.
- Combine the drained rigatoni pasta with the truffle cream sauce, gently mixing until well coated. If the sauce becomes too thick, add a splash of reserved pasta water or plain water.
- Sprinkle on that parmesan you saved earlier, plus some fresh chopped parsley. Serve right away.
Notes
Note A: Salt control – If using salted butter and/or regular broth (not the low-sodium kind), cut the amount of added salt in half. Taste the final dish and then add more salt if needed.
Note B: Parmesan – If you want to try a different cheese, grana padano, pecorino romano or asiago can work great as substitutes.
Note C: Truffle oil – You can use white truffle oil instead of black, but you may need to add a bit more. Start with less, keep tasting and add gradually.
Note D: Cooking pasta – For cooking 8 ounces of rigatoni, I used 8 cups of water and 2 teaspoons salt and boiled for 9 minutes (followed the cook time instructions on the package).
Note E: Helpful content – Click on the links below for related useful content in the main body of the post.
- Step-by-step photo instructions
- Recipe troubleshooting
- Substitutions and variations (full list)
- Pairing ideas
- Storage