Baked Ziti

Does anyone have an easy, fool proof recipe for Baked Ziti??
Thanks

Re: Baked Ziti

While your ziti or rigatoni is boiling in water, turn the oven on to 375. Get a bowl out. Crack an egg and wisk it. Add a container of ricotta cheese, about 1/2 cup of mozzarella, about 1/4 cup of parmesan, some chopped parsley, some chopped basic, salt and pepper. Mix.

Layer some sauce on the bottom of the baking dish.

Drain pasta.

Return back to the pot and add the cheese mixture. Stir around and around. Add some sauce. Keep stirring.

Add cheese and pasta mixture to dish. Spread around. Top with more sauce and more mozzarella.

Cover with foil and bake for 25 min. Uncover and bake another 10-15 minutes.

Done.

Re: Baked Ziti

the most basic way I make it is:

prepare pasta (as per usual)
prepare sauce (as per usual)
shred cheese (or buy pre-shredded)

Once pasta is complete, pour into colander.

Using LARGE pot (could be one you just emptied, whatever), spoon in some sauce.

Put back 1/4 of the pasta, stir more sauce into it. Now add 1/4 of the shredded cheese & mix well.

Repeat the above process until all pasta, cheese & as much sauce as you want to use is mixed together.

You can also throw ricotta in there, but we prefer it without.

I also sometimes throw some 'perdue short cuts' in there and call it baked ziti surprise! :)

Re: Baked Ziti

Re: Baked Ziti

the one i use is not too simple
but it definitely is YUMMY!
1 pound dry ziti pasta
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, sliced
1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 pound ground beef
1/2 pound ground pork sausage
1 1/2 (26 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce
salt to taste
1 (6 ounce) package provolone cheese, sliced
3/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
1 (6 ounce) package mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

..DIRECTIONS
1.Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente; drain.
2.Meanwhile, heat olive oil in large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Cook onion in oil until tender. Stir in rosemary and garlic. Transfer to a small bowl.
3.Place ground beef and sausage in the skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown. Stir in the onion mixture and the spaghetti sauce. Season with salt. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for 10 minutes.
4.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish. In the prepared dish, layer 1/2 of the cooked pasta, provolone cheese, sour cream, ricotta cheese, and a little less than 1/2 of the meat mixture. Then layer the rest of the pasta, mozzarella cheese, remaining meat mixture, and Parmesan cheese.
5.Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes, or until heated through and cheeses are melted.

Re: Baked Ziti

I follow the recipe on the back of the Ronzoni box.

Re: Baked Ziti

Re: Baked Ziti

This is the BEST!!!!

This is Grandma Rella's famous baked ziti recipe FROM Italy. This is my FIL's mother who is from Bari and this recipe is the shiiiiit. and NOT hard!

Baked Ziti

-1 lb. pasta
-1/2 lb. mortadella (ask for it thinly sliced at any butcher)
-1/2 lb. ham (same thing - thinly sliced)
-1 lb. mozzarella cheese (in a block - fresh)
-3.5 cups grated parmasean cheese
-Equivilent of 1 jar of meat sauce -- we don't buy sauce in the jar, we make fresh but you can buy a good sauce and it is the same difference. i have had it both ways (when i'm lazy).

cube everything first -- cube mortadella, ham and mozzarella cheese. that way, you are all set.

cook pasta - when done and strained mix in a little bit of sauce so that the pasta doesn't stick together. i would say about 1/2 cup to 1 cup of sauce - depending on how much you like. i'm not a sauce person so i put a small amount.

in a standard lasagna pan (about 13x9) put half of the pasta in the pan - nice and flat in order to layer, then put all of the cold cuts (spread evenly), and the first 1/2 lb of the mozzarella cheese - evenly spread.

sprinkle three cups of the grated cheese -- evenly -- it should be a thin film of grated cheese.

then, add the rest of the pasta on top of that! top off with the rest of the mozzarella (so, the other half pound) and half a cup of the parm grated cheese -- all evenly distributed. you can add some extra sauce at this point - it depends on how much sauce you want. i usually don't put anymore on it -- just the bit in the beginning to keep it from sticking. what i do is i save the rest of the sauce on the SIDE and people spoon it on when they eat it. b/c i'm really not a sauce person.

bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes -- at the end, i switch it over to broil (a feature on your oven) for about the last 5/6 minutes to get those golden brown crispy edges and top!!!!

my husband wants me to add that, when you buy your coldcuts, buy the boars' head brand he is a stickler about this one part.

ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!