Baked Ziti

So, it's been weeks since the last time we posted. I (Dan) have been working towards going to culinary school and while working full time, this have been quite hectic. So, we've got some leftovers and limited time and we are going to throw together a delicious baked ziti.

Baked ziti, along with half the other Italian-American meals, has only four or five central ingredients and is pretty easy to throw together. Make sure the quality of your ingredients are good, there is no room to hide.

First things first, fill a 4 quart saucepan with water and put on the range to boil.

Now the Sauce:

I started with a 28 ounce can of San Marzano Tomatoes, Crushed. Heated a couple of tbsp of olive oil in a saucepan and added 4 cloves of garlic until browned. Remove the garlic and add the tomatoes. Cooking time will depend on how you like your sauces. I like mine with a deeper cooked tomato flavor, rather than a sweet/bitter raw tomato flavor. I cooked the sauce for about 20 minutes on medium and the raw flavor was more or less cooked out. I turned the heat to low and added a tsp each of basil, red pepper flake and oregano. Stir it will and let it simmer on low for about 5 minutes. Remove it from the heat and stir in a tabelspoon of roughly chopped fresh parsely.

Add 1 pound of pasta to the water, which should now be boiling. Don't forget to salt your water as well. Cook it until it is a little less than al dente. If you fully cook it, the pasta will over cook in the oven.

Drain the pasta well and mix in 6 ounces of Ricotta cheese, 4 ounces of shredded mozzarella, 3 tbsp of freshly grated parmegiana regiana, and enough sauce to coat. Mix everything well and top with some shredded mozzarella. Cover well with tin foil and bake for 35 minutes at 350. Remove the tin foil and raise the temperate to 400 until the cheese begins to brown. Yum!

More to come soon.