Kind of like lasagna, but only in that it is a cheesy baked pasta dish topped with mozzarella cheese & a sprinkle of parmesan…..vegetarian & delicious!
The recipe is from marthastewart.com. Baked Ziti with Crunchy Italian Salad & Garlic Bread. I didn’t use ziti, but used small shells. I did make a salad, not the one from the recipe, to eat with this pasta dish & garlic bread …whicH I used the technique from this recipe but I did not add as much garlic.
The baked pasta is layered over some store-bought spaghetti sauce, then topped with a mixture of ricotta cheese, eggs, mozzarella & parmesan cheese. Then more spaghetti sauce on top of the ricotta cheese mixture, sprinkled with mozzarella & parmesan cheese…baked utill bubbly & the cheese is brown & crispy! So good!!! I doubled the recipe…so we have been enjoying the left-overs for a few days & it is just as good as right out of the oven.
Here is the recipe * the only changes I made to the original recipe is that I used spaghetti sauce instead of tomato sauce
Ingredients for double the recipe went in 9 x 13 pan
4 cups of uncooked short pasta…I used small shells *** 16 oz or 453 g … iI used 1/2 of a 900 g bag of pasta
2 cups ricotta cheese
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, divided….1 cup & 1/2 cup
2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded, divided… 1 cup & 1 cup
salt & pepper
2 jars of tomato sauce, about 6 cups… *** I used spaghetti sauce
Method
Preheat oven to 450f Have a 9 x 13 baking dish ready to use
- Cook the pasta according to directions on the package. Once cooked, drain & set aside
- Combine the ricotta cheese, eggs, 1 cup parmesan cheese & 1 cup mozzarella cheese. Season with salt & pepper
- Spread 1/2 of the spaghetti sauce in the bottom of your baking dish
- Put the cooked pasta on top of the spaghetti sauce
- Put the ricotta mixture on top of the pasta…I just spooned it on then spread it over top of the pasta…gently!
- Pour the remaining sauce over the pasta/cheese
- Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of mozerrela cheese over the sauce
- Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese over the moxerrala
- Bake until hot & bubbling…I like my cheese nice & brown….approx 20 – 30 minutes, but keep your eye on it …check after 20 minutes because the oven is HOT! I baked mine longer then the recipe called for… so much depends on your oven with this & how you like your cheese, but it needs to be bubbly
Enjoy!
Like lasagna, but so much easier, I love it!
This is a great recipe if you have leftover pasta! Sounds and looks very tasty!