Delia Smith’s rigatoni with roasted vegetables is a pasta gratin with aubergine, courgettes, peppers, tomatoes, olives, capers and a Parmesan cheese sauce. The vegetables roast at your oven’s highest setting for 30 to 40 minutes, then the gratin bakes at 200°C (400°F) for just 6 minutes.
This comes from Delia’s Complete How to Cook, her definitive teaching book. The roasted vegetables, Parmesan sauce, mozzarella layers and anchovy-caper hit make it a proper Italian gratin, not a basic pasta bake.
The technique worth learning is Delia’s hour-long salting of the aubergine and courgettes. She layers them in a colander with salt, weights them down, then squeezes them dry. Most recipes skip this, but it’s what stops the gratin turning watery underneath all that cheese.
Delia Smith Rigatoni with Roasted Vegetables
Course: DinnerCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy4
servings1
hour20
minutes46
minutes660
kcal2
hoursA layered pasta gratin from Delia’s Complete How to Cook with oven-roasted Mediterranean vegetables, a Parmesan cheese sauce and melted mozzarella between each layer. Vegetarians can swap in vegetarian Parmesan and leave out the anchovies.
Ingredients
- For the roasted vegetables:
1 small aubergine, chopped into 4cm (1.5 inch) chunks, skin on
2 medium courgettes, chopped into 4cm (1.5 inch) chunks, skin on
1 lb (450g) tomatoes, skinned and quartered
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped into 4cm (1.5 inch) chunks
1 small red pepper, deseeded and chopped into 4cm (1.5 inch) chunks
1 small yellow pepper, deseeded and chopped into 4cm (1.5 inch) chunks
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
Salt and freshly milled black pepper
- For the cheese sauce:
1 pint (570ml) milk
1.5 oz (40g) plain flour
1.5 oz (40g) butter
Pinch of cayenne pepper
2 oz (50g) Parmesan (Parmigiano Reggiano), finely grated
A little freshly grated nutmeg
Salt and freshly milled black pepper
- For the gratin:
6 oz (175g) rigatoni
2 oz (50g) mozzarella, grated
2 oz (50g) pitted black olives, chopped
4 anchovy fillets, drained and chopped (omit for vegetarian)
1 heaped tablespoon salted capers or capers in vinegar, rinsed and drained
1 heaped tablespoon grated Parmesan, for the topping
- Equipment
Ovenproof baking dish, 25.5 x 20 x 5cm (10 x 8 x 2 inches)
Baking tray, 40 x 28cm (16 x 11 inches)
Directions
- Salt the vegetables: Chop the courgettes and aubergine into 4cm (1.5 inch) chunks, leaving the skins on. Layer them in a colander with a sprinkling of salt between each layer. Put a plate on top and weight it down with something heavy. Leave for 1 hour.
- Dry and preheat: After an hour, squeeze the vegetables, then dry them in a clean tea cloth. Preheat the oven to its highest setting.
- Roast the vegetables: Quarter the tomatoes and chop the onion and peppers into 4cm chunks. Arrange all the vegetables on the baking tray and sprinkle with the olive oil and chopped garlic. Mix well to coat all the pieces with the oil, then spread them out as much as possible. Season with salt and pepper. Roast on a high shelf for 30 to 40 minutes, until browned and charred at the edges.
- Make the cheese sauce: Place the milk, flour, butter and cayenne pepper in a medium saucepan over a gentle heat. Using a balloon whisk, begin to whisk while bringing it to a gentle simmer. Whisk continually until you have a smooth glossy sauce, and simmer very gently for 5 minutes. Add the cheese and whisk again, allowing it to melt. Season with salt, pepper and freshly grated nutmeg.
- Cook the pasta: About 5 minutes before the vegetables are ready, cook the rigatoni in a large pan of boiling water for exactly 6 minutes, no longer. Drain in a colander.
- Combine: Transfer the drained pasta to a large mixing bowl and combine with the roasted vegetables, olives, anchovies, capers and cheese sauce.
- Layer the gratin: Turn the oven down to 200°C (400°F), gas mark 6, leaving the door open to let it cool down quicker. Layer the mixture into the gratin dish a third at a time, sprinkling the mozzarella over each layer and finishing with mozzarella. Sprinkle the heaped tablespoon of Parmesan on top.
- Bake: Put the dish in the oven for 6 minutes. Serve very hot with a leafy salad and a sharp dressing.
Notes
- Delia’s make-ahead note: If making ahead, the gratin will need 35 to 40 minutes in the oven at 200°C (400°F), gas mark 6, to heat through from cold.
FAQs
Why does Delia salt the aubergine and courgettes for an hour?
Salting draws out excess water. Aubergine and courgettes are spongy vegetables that release liquid when heated, and in a gratin that liquid has nowhere to go. You end up with a watery sauce pooling at the bottom of the dish instead of a concentrated, sticky one.
Delia’s method is specific: chop, layer with salt, weight down, wait a full hour, then squeeze and dry in a tea cloth. That last step matters. If you skip the squeezing, the salt pulls out the water but leaves it sitting on the surface. The whole point is to get rid of it before the vegetables hit the oven.
Can I use a different pasta shape?
Rigatoni works because the tubes trap cheese sauce inside them. Penne is the closest swap and holds sauce almost as well. Fusilli catches sauce in its spirals but doesn’t have that satisfying bite-through-a-tube texture.
Avoid spaghetti, linguine or any long pasta. This is a layered gratin, not a tossed pasta dish. Long strands clump together and won’t layer properly with the vegetables and mozzarella. Delia chose rigatoni for a reason: the shape matters here.
Why does Delia cook the rigatoni for only 6 minutes?
The pasta goes into the oven after boiling, so it cooks twice. Six minutes in boiling water leaves rigatoni well short of al dente, which is exactly right. The gratin stage finishes the job, and the pasta absorbs some of the cheese sauce as it bakes.
If you cook the rigatoni to the packet time (usually 12 to 14 minutes), it’ll turn soft and mushy in the oven. Delia is precise about this: “exactly 6 minutes, no longer.” Trust her on the timing even though the pasta will feel too firm when you drain it.
Is this recipe vegetarian?
Almost. Delia lists it as vegetarian but includes 4 anchovy fillets, which she flags herself. She says “for strict vegetarians, exclude the anchovies.” The anchovies add a salty umami depth to the gratin, so if you leave them out, increase the capers to 2 tablespoons to compensate.
She also notes that standard Parmesan contains animal rennet. Delia suggests a vegetarian Parmesan-style cheese as an alternative. Most supermarkets now stock Italian-style hard cheese made with vegetable rennet, which wasn’t as common when the book was published.
Can I freeze this gratin?
Assemble the full gratin but don’t bake it. Cover tightly with cling film, then foil, and freeze for up to 2 months. Defrost fully in the fridge overnight before baking at 200°C (400°F) for 35 to 40 minutes, the same as Delia’s make-ahead instruction.
I wouldn’t freeze it after baking. The pasta soaks up too much sauce in the freezer and the texture goes stodgy on reheating. The cheese sauce also splits more easily when frozen and reheated twice. Assemble-then-freeze is the safer approach.
What salad goes best with this gratin?
Delia says “a leafy salad and a sharp dressing,” which is the right call. Rocket with lemon juice and olive oil is the classic pairing for Italian pasta bakes. The bitterness of the rocket and acidity of the lemon cut through the richness of the cheese sauce and roasted vegetables.
Don’t serve anything heavy alongside it. This gratin already has pasta, cheese sauce, mozzarella and roasted vegetables in one dish. A simple green salad is all it needs, and bread is optional. If you do add bread, go for ciabatta rather than garlic bread, since garlic is already in the roasted vegetables.
