Rigatoni Isabella

"There is this wonderful Italian restaurant in town, Cappetto's, and this is one of their signature dishes. I enjoyed this and told the waiter how wonderful it was. To my surprise the chef came to our table and gave me the simple recipe. This recipe is for 2; however, can be easily adapted for more. Any tube pasta will work great for this dish; penne, rigatoni, etc. Garnish with a couple of fresh jalapeno slices."
 
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photo by MarraMamba photo by MarraMamba
photo by MarraMamba
Ready In:
35mins
Ingredients:
10
Serves:
2-3
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ingredients

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directions

  • Cook the pasta as directed on the package, drain well.
  • While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter in a large saute pan, add the sliced scallions and tomatoes; cook for a few minutes until onions are wilted and tomatoes warm.
  • Stir in the sliced jalapenos, drained pasta and cheese, stirring to mix.
  • When cheese has melted, add the chopped basil and generous amounts of fresh black pepper, adding salt to taste.
  • Serve with grated Parmesan cheese and a jalapeno slice or 2 for garnish.

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Reviews

  1. I have been making this recipe for years! Amazing my mom used to work at Cappettos years ago when my dad was stationed in El Paso. Thank you for sharing.
     
  2. This is one of those meals that you can't wait to have again! Even my kids loved it and they are really picky eaters. I look forward to making this for my mom and dad when then come to visit. I am sure they will love it as much as we do! I used shredded Mozzarella to speed up the melting of the cheese and it worked great!
     
  3. Yum! I quadrupled the recipe and was glad I did. Loved the addition of fresh mozzarella and Swiss, also lots of jalapeños which added flavor but not excessive heat. A quick dinner with lots of fresh ingredients that make the dish extra special. Thanks for sharing, Paula!
     
  4. this is an awesome dish really liked it the swiss cheese really puts it over the top
     
  5. This was a tasty dish, however, I came close to giving it a 3. I would actually consider this a 3.5 star recipe but gave it the benefit of the doubt. Here's the problem I had with it....you have to cook the heck out of this sauce to ever get true fresh mozzarella to melt. No matter how long I cooked this, I still had some clumps of mozzarella lingering in it and it just didn't get smooth. I added bay scallops to this dish since my husband is not a fan of pasta dishes without meat, chicken or seafood in it. The scallops complemented the dish well. I used 2 large jalapenos and doubled the recipe and also added minced garlic (just can't have food without garlic!) and i feel the garlic also was an excellent addition. The flavor was good and the jalapenos were not overpowering...just couldn't get past that consistency part. I may try this again with another type of cheese that melts down better than mozzarella. Thanks for posting!
     
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Tweaks

  1. Very good. DH loved it. Had to substitute the jalapenos with fresh peperoncini, the scallions with white onion, and the fresh basil for 1 teaspoon dried ... but it was still buonissimo.
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

I came to this site in March of 2004. It was then called Recipezaar. This site was the first on-line site that I ever joined. I first popped in 2003 while searching for a Peach Cobbler Recipe. In March of 2004, DH was having shoulder surgery and I was looking for a Split Pea Soup. Once again I found myself on Zaar as it came to be called. Over the years I hung out and learned from some of the best home cooks in the country, I posted over 700 recipes on the site, reviewed over 3500 recipes and posted over 3000 food photos. Over the next 10 years the site made many changes and in 2010 it was sold to to Food Network and became Food.com. Until last year we played games, talked and shared with one another. As a result of the community and the relationships I built I got to meet some wonderful people from all over the country. I also have a great number of friends that I have never meet face to face. Some of us still hang out at various places across the net. Zaar was more than a cooking community. It was an internet community of friendship. Life is an adventure ever changing.
 
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