Baked Ziti

If you haven't noticed already, I love cooking pastas, I'm a bit of a pasta freak, but it's okay, Jim is too. With the weather being so blah here lately and the forecasters currently showing no end in sight, I was definitely looking to cook something warm and comforting today. Baked Ziti is such an easy dish to put together, not a lot of maintenance, totally satisfying and pretty easy. This particular version is vegetarian but you can feel free to add in Italian sausage (or whatever) to the sauce to make the dish more carnivore-friendly. Total prep time is about 30 minutes, cooking time is an additional 45 minutes, but it's oh so worth it. Ooey, gooey, cheesy, baked ziti, its warm and comforting. The perfect hot meal on a day like this.

Serves 6

The key players, you will need:

- 3 Roma tomatoes

- One 8 oz. can of tomato sauce

- One 12 oz. can of stewed tomatoes with basil and garlic

- 4 cloves of garlic

- 1 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese

- 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese (grated)

- 2 cups of mozzarella cheese (grated)

- 1/2 a large onion (diced)

- 3 tbsp. of tomato paste

- 1/2 a cup of Italian parsley (chopped)

- 1/2 tsp. of dried oregano

- 1/2 tsp. of red pepper flakes

- 1 cup of water

-1 package of penne rigati 

- 3 tablespoons of EV olive oil

- Salt and pepper (to taste)

Add the olive oil to a pan and heat on medium/high.

In a stockpot bring 8 quarts of water to a boil, when ready, cook the penne per package ingredients and set aside.

Dice 1/2 an onion finely.

Add the onions to the heated oil and cook, stirring often.

Add in a pinch of salt, pepper, the oregano and red pepper flakes.

Stir to combine and cook until the onions are translucent.

Add in the garlic and stir together to combine well.

Slice the tomatoes into eighths and finely chop the parsley.

Add both to the pan and cook for another five minutes.

The tomatoes will cook down, to help them along, using the back of a wooden spoon, mash some of the larger tomato pieces.

Cut open all of your canned goods.

Add in your diced tomatoes...

and the tomato sauce...

the water.

Finally add in the tomato paste, salt and pepper to taste.

Bring the mixture to a boil.

Reduce heat to medium/low and cook.

Meanwhile, add 2 cups of grated mozzarella cheese to a mixing bowl.

Add in the ricotta cheese.

Stir to combine. Remove sauce from heat.

In a 13 x 9 inch baking dish spoon in a thin layer of sauce.

Next, spoon in a layer of cooked penne.

Top with a 1/2 of your cheese mixture.

Cover generously with sauce, retain only 1/2 a cup of sauce.

Add in the remaining cooked penne and top with remaining cheese.

Top with 1/2 a cup of reserved sauce in the middle of the dish.

Top with parmesan cheese.

Ta-Dah!

Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove foil and cook for an additional 15 minutes.

Remove from oven.

Garnish with freshly chopped parsley and let cool. Serve and enjoy!