Cheese-y Baked Ziti

ziti

Periodically, my Husband likes to cook dinner for our family. Who am I to say “no” when I have an equally full day at work and then run around picking the boys up each day? I love having a night off once in awhile so I can actually sit down and play with them a bit before dinner. It’s a pleasure having a Husband who actually enjoys getting into the kitchen and cooking dinner for us. I know a few people whose husbands wouldn’t even think of doing that, so I know how lucky I am.

One of my Husband’s all time favorite dishes is Baked Ziti. Growing up, it was the one thing he always ordered whenever going to Italian restaurants. If a place didn’t have great baked ziti, then why go back there? Fortunately after he got older, he managed to branch out and try some other Italian dishes and found new favorites, like Penne Arrabiatta.

The recipe he uses to make the Baked Ziti for us is extremely simple, but the combination of the ingredients works perfectly. It’s the perfect amount of cheese-y goodness melted throughout. He likes to use a bottled tomato sauce by Classico that has sausage, peppers and onions in it to keep things simple, yet flavorful.

This dish screams comfort food and I imagine you may just have many of the ingredients on hand with only a couple to pick up from the grocery store. Serve it with some nice crusty bread and a simple salad of spinach and mushrooms and you have a perfect meal.


Baked Ziti

Source: My Husband 

Ingredients

  • 1 pound ziti, uncooked
  • 28 ounce jar Classico Traditional Favorites - Italian Sausage with peppers and onions
  • 15 ounces ricotta cheese
  • 16 ounces shredded mozzarella
  • 1 teaspoon each dried basil and oregano

Directions
  1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Cook pasta according to package directions, al dente.
  2.  Heat the tomato sauce in a small pan to bubbling hot. Drain the pasta and put back into pot, pour sauce into the same pot and heat to bubbling for approximately 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. In a separate bowl, mix the ricotta and 1/2 of the mozzarella together.
  3. Take a 9x13 baking dish/pan, cover bottom with the sauce and pasta mixture (about 1 inch depth). Then, layer mozzarella/ricotta cheese mixture over the pasta. Then, add the remaining pasta and sauce mixture over the top. Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella (approximately 8 ounces) over the top. Sprinkle dried oregano and basil.
  4. Cover with foil, bake for 35-40 minutes. Then, uncover and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes. To brown the top, 1 minute under the broiler.  

Comments

Jenny said…
Definitely one of my all time favorite things to eat! Your recipe sounds delicious!!
amycaseycooks said…
I would be happy with pb and j if my husband made it! Ziti sounds fantastic!
test it comm said…
That looks good! You cannot go wrong with baked pasta with cheese and tomato sauce. :)
Patsyk said…
Jenny - after my Husband reviewed the recipe, I had to make a couple of changes to it since he rattled off how he makes it so fast I wrote a few things incorrectly. So, now it's been fixed!

eat! - thanks for stopping by! Truth is, whatever he makes I am thrilled with, and this is one of his specialties. He also makes a fantastic fried pasta that I hope he'll do soon so that I can share that one as well.

Kevin - you are so right!
I think my boys would love those zitis. Thanks for sharing.
Bruce said…
Patsy,

If it was really for me, how come I didn't get a doggie bag???

LOL

Bruce
Patsyk said…
Bruce - if you had stopped by one day sooner, your doggie bag would have still been waiting.

I still owe you some of the risotto... and, I PROMISE to bring some over for you since I know your lovely wife is not likely to make it.

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