I’m one of those fortunate people who can eat everything (and pretty much do). But not surprisingly, I hear from a lot of folks who tell me cheese doesn’t agree with them, especially cow cheese. Many say that goat cheese presents no problems, so at least they don’t have to swear off dairy entirely. But eggplant parmigiana, pizza Margherita, baked rigatoni—for those classics, you need oozy mozzarella. And until recently, goat mozzarella was barely a thing. I know of one creamery in Wisconsin that makes it, and a California producer recently entered the niche. So if you’re a cow cheese avoider and want to make my baked rigatoni with fresh summer tomato sauce, you have options.
Bella Capra Goat Mozzarella, from California’s Sierra Nevada Cheese Company is the newcomer, joining LaClare Creamery’s goat mozzarella to double the choices for goat cheese fans. Both companies have store locators on their websites.
When my online digging turned up only these two, I started to wonder if the product was a technical challenge. After all, we have numerous goat’s milk Cheddars and Goudas. After some trials, America’s Test Kitchen concluded that goat milk doesn’t work well for mozzarella and took a stab at an explanation.
Certainly goat’s and cow’s milk differ in ways that affect stretchability. I haven’t tasted LaClare’s product, but Sierra Nevada’s goat mozz responds to heat differently than cow’s milk mozzarella. That lava flow you expect when you lift a slice of cheesy pizza? You’re not gonna get that. The Sierra Nevada mozzarella melts readily and has a pleasantly mild, milky flavor. But the melt is more of a puddle, not stretchy strings. As I suspected and the company confirmed, it’s not a pasta filata (stretched curd) cheese, like traditional mozzarella. It’s a pressed curd.
So is it even mozzarella? Well, it’s not likely to please Italophiles in an insalata caprese, but for cooking, its performance comes close to that of low-moisture mozzarella. If I couldn’t have the cow version, I’d be grateful for it. In fact, stretchy mozzarella can be messy and annoying. In my original headnote for the recipe below, tested with cow’s milk mozzarella, I warned readers to watch out for their tablecloth.
Baked Rigatoni with Summer Tomato Sauce
I like to use mezzi rigatoni—half-size rigatoni —for this recipe because they’re easier to eat, but any short pasta shape, like penne or fusilli, will work. I like my pasta lightly sauced. If you want more sauce, use 3 cups fresh tomato. Adapted from Pasta Harvest by Janet Fletcher (Chronicle Books).
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 to 3 cups peeled, seeded and diced fresh tomato, preferably Roma type
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons minced Italian parsley
Pinch hot red pepper flakes, or to taste
Kosher or sea salt
Pinch of baking soda, optional
1 pound dried mezzi rigatoni or other short pasta shape
6 ounces goat mozzarella or whole-milk cow mozzarella, sliced thin
1/3 cup freshly grated pecorino or Parmigiano Reggiano
Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Heat the olive oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium low heat. Add the garlic and sauté briefly to release its fragrance. Add the tomatoes, oregano (crumbling it between your fingers), parsley, hot pepper flakes and salt to taste. Bring to a simmer, adjust the heat to maintain a simmer and cook, stirring often, until the sauce is thick and tasty, 20 to 25 minutes. If the sauce tastes tart, add a pinch of baking soda to neutralize the acidity. Simmer until the sauce stops foaming, about 1 minute.
Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until it’s about two-thirds done, 8 to 9 minutes. Drain and return to the pot. Set aside 1/3 cup of sauce and add the rest to the pasta. Toss to coat.
Put one-third of the pasta in a shallow baking dish with a 10- to 12-cup capacity. Top with half of the mozzarella cheese. Add half of the remaining pasta, then the remaining mozzarella. Top with the remaining pasta and the reserved 1/3 cup sauce. Sprinkle the grated cheese evenly over the surface. Cover and bake until bubbling hot, about 20 minutes. Serve immediately.
Serves 4
