Best Maggianos Little Italy Rigatoni Di Gregorio Copycat Recipes

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MAGGIANO'S LITTLE ITALY RIGATONI DI GREGORIO AKA RIGATONI "



Maggiano's Little Italy Rigatoni Di Gregorio Aka Rigatoni

This is my version of Maggiano's Rigatoni "D". I started with one of the copycat recipes and tried different things each time I made it, until I arrived at something I actually like better than the real thing from the restaurant. The main thing I do differently than other recipes is to make everything in one pan. I use a tri-ply stainless steel wok. I suspect a heavy bottom or tri-ply stainless stock pot would work fine too. You can substitute other pastas for the rigatoni. Farfalle and rotini are favorites of mine. In place of canned stock, I like to use Minor's bases. They're available at BJ's Wholesale Club, Restaurant Depot, and online. I think there's a similar product available in most grocery stores called Better Than Bouillon, though I haven't tried it myself. Trader Joe's has also started selling a concentrated broth product, but I haven't tried it yet either. If you can't find any concentrated soup bases, canned Swanson broth is fine too, but you'll have a lot more reducing to do. I left it out of the recipe because it's harder to find and the web site doesn't recognize the ingredient, but mushroom base in addition to the chicken base improves the flavor. Use a 2:1::chicken base:mushroom base ratio. Sweet onions are fine, but use Vidalia onions if you can find them. If you're lazy, find a recipe for caramelizing onions in a Crock Pot. That will cut out a lot of the labor-intensive onion babysitting.

Provided by majahanson311

Categories     One Dish Meal

Time 2h

Yield 4 serving(s)

Number Of Ingredients 14

1/2 cup heavy cream
4 ounces butter
1 cup marsala wine
2 cups white wine
2 heads garlic
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
4 tablespoons pure olive oil
1 tablespoon minor's chicken base
2 large sweet onions
16 ounces rigatoni pasta
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
8 ounces white button mushrooms
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
2 cups water

Steps:

  • Chop up the onions. Put them in a large wok with a couple tablespoons olive oil. Cook on high for a few minutes until the onions are hot and starting to become translucent, then turn down the heat to medium low. As the rest of the steps progress, you'll need to remember to stir the onions every 8 minutes to keep them from burning. The onions will take a long time to reach the desired golden-brown color.
  • Peel the outer, papery skin off two heads of garlic, but leave the skin that covers the cloves. Slice the tips of the cloves off the top, exposing each clove and leaving a flat top. Save the tips, which you'll toss into the onions when they're almost finished cooking. Drizzle the heads with olive oil, wrap them in foil, and place them in a 400 degree Fahrenheit oven for 40 minutes.
  • Quarter the button mushrooms from top to bottom. Each mushroom piece should have part of the head and part of the stem.
  • When the onions are approaching done (not the rich brown of fully caramelized onions, but getting there) add the mushrooms and leftover garlic clove tips to the cooking onions. Stir everything together and cook until the mushrooms are looking sautéed.
  • With the onions, mushrooms, and garlic still in the pan, turn the heat up to high and add the wines. Scrape the bottom of the pan to make sure the sugars from the onions are released and integrated into the liquid.
  • Add the chicken base. You can add a bit more to taste if you want. We're looking for a nice strong chicken flavor, but be careful of over-salting. At this point the sauce should taste pretty good.
  • Cut up the raw chicken into scallop-sized pieces and put them in the pan with everything else. There's also no harm in using some leftover cooked chicken as well, as long as it doesn't have any incompatible flavorings. Let the chicken cook through.
  • The next step is to add the pasta into the same pan. Before you do, make sure the amount of liquid is right. It takes some experience to eyeball it, but the idea is to just barely (or not quite) cover the noodles once they're in the pan. It's better to start with too little liquid than too much because you can always add some boiling water from a teapot after you've added the pasta, but you don't want to be reducing after the pasta is cooked, because the pasta will overcook and get mushy. As it cooks, the pasta takes on the flavor of the sauce and releases starches that thicken the sauce at the same time.
  • Monitor the pasta as it cooks. When it's just reaching the perfect al dente, turn off the heat and stir in the heavy cream and grated Parmesan cheese. Cut up the butter into pieces and stir them into the sauce. Squeeze out the roasted garlic (don't burn yourself!), mash it up, and stir it in as well. Add freshly cracked black pepper to taste and serve.

Nutrition Facts : Calories 1415, Fat 58.1, SaturatedFat 27.2, Cholesterol 246.2, Sodium 547.9, Carbohydrate 112.9, Fiber 6.4, Sugar 10.4, Protein 39.2

MAGGIANO'S LITTLE ITALY RIGATONI DI GREGORIO (COPYCAT)



Maggiano's Little Italy Rigatoni Di Gregorio (Copycat) image

Rigatoni with Chicken and a Mushroom Sauce.. Creamy, RICH, hearty and a crowd pleaser! Add some chopped salad and Tiramisu and that IS DINNER!

Provided by Amberngriffinco

Categories     Chicken Breast

Time 45m

Yield 4 serving(s)

Number Of Ingredients 14

5 ounces button mushrooms
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
5 ounces raw chicken breasts, cut in small pieces
8 ounces rigatoni pasta, cooked al dente and drained
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaf
1 tablespoon parmesan cheese
1 ounce garlic butter
1 tablespoon virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic paste
1 ounce white wine
2 -4 ounces marsala wine
1/2 quart chicken stock
1/2 quart heavy cream (whipping)
salt and pepper

Steps:

  • Heat oil and sauté mushrooms, onion and garlic puree. Brown lightly and season with salt and pepper.
  • Add white wine, Marsala wine and chicken stock. Reduce by half. Add cream and bring to a boil and turn down heat and simmer to skim away any impurities.
  • Add drained rigatoni to pan and finish with basil, parmesan cheese, garlic butter and salt and pepper to taste. Add Marsala for flavor as needed.
  • Place in pasta bowl and garnish with parmesan shavings and additional basil leaves.
  • * My notes: I use a mix of onion AND shallots. I use an 8 oz package of mushrooms, roughly chopped and 10 oz of chicken breast. I also add in about six fresh basil leaves roughly chopped up.

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