Tuesday, October 9th, 2007...7:30 am
Baked Ziti
Jump to Comments
Penne pasta baked with a blend of creamy ricotta cheese, seasoned beef, and marinara sauce makes for a delicious, rich, and filling Italian-style casserole.
Baked Ziti
Ingredients:
1 (16 oz.) package penne pasta
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 lb. ground beef
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 egg, beaten
4 cups marinara sauce (purchased or homemade)
15 ounces ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
8 ounces sliced mozzarella cheese
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
Instructions:
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente. Drain and set aside.
- Heat olive oil in large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add ground beef. As the meat cooks, add garlic powder and Italian seasoning, as well as salt and pepper. Cook until evenly brown, and drain off any fat.
- Add marinara sauce to meat and simmer (low heat) for 15 minutes.
- In a large bowl, mix ricotta, shredded mozzarella, and egg, adding more black pepper if desired. Add cooked pasta to mixture and stir gently.
- Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Begin layering your ingredients in a lightly-greased 9×13” baking dish as follows: a thin layer of meat-sauce mixture in the bottom of pan, then a layer of cheese and noodle mixture, then another thin layer of meat sauce and another layer of cheese and noodle. Repeat as necessary, ending with meat sauce on top.
- Top with mozzarella cheese slices and parmesan cheese.
- Bake for about 30 minutes or until the ziti is heated through and the cheeses are melted.
This is perfect served hot and bubbly, alongside crusty warm bread and salad.
13 Comments
Filed under Recipe, Bonus, Autumn 2007
13 Comments
October 9th, 2007 at 10:10 am
Careful squeezing may get this onto four pages of printing. Maybe. 26 pictures take up a lot of space!
October 9th, 2007 at 11:35 am
Oh my this looks delightful!!!! I’ve made baked ziti for a long time, and never thought about using ricotta cheese, and mixing the ziti with the ricotta! I am going to have to use my tofu ricotta for this to cut the cost down a bit and make it a regular fall/winter dish in our home!
Blessings,
In Him,
Lori4squaremom
http://lori.scottdomain.com
October 9th, 2007 at 11:36 am
What a great recipe! I’ve been trying to plot my weekend menu and this fits the bill for one of the meals perfectly. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
I think you’re both going to love it!
October 10th, 2007 at 10:19 am
We love baked ziti too, but I never thought of adding ricotta to the penne! How fun - like another version of lasagna without messing with those crazy flat noodles! I never cook the right amount for the dish size! I think I’ll make two of these and take one over to a young mom who is struggling returning to work after her 4th baby! Thanks for another great recipe!
October 10th, 2007 at 11:42 am
Just wanted to add another comment. I couldn’t wait until this weekend to try your recipe so made it last night. Thank goodness I did because one of our neighborhood families (all 5 of them) stopped by and were entranced by the smell of the Baked Ziti so I invited them all for dinner. Everyone loved it. Thank you so much!
October 10th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
I am another who never thought of adding ricotta to the penne. Yum! I cannot wait to try this!!
October 12th, 2007 at 6:06 am
yum-O, I am going to make this for our harvest party. I was going to make chili or beef stew, but this sounds like a better idea!
Jenn
October 13th, 2007 at 1:07 am
I get so hungry coming to this site with all these pictures of wonderful looking food! I can almost smell it cooking!
I wondered if you have thought of putting recipes like this one in pdf format for easier printing. I love all the pictures in the instructions. I’m a visual person and that helps a lot for me to see what my dish should look like at various stages.
I’m thoroughly enjoying the magazine. Can I just say “WOW, what creative people you are!”. And thanks for your generosity. I look forward to the next issue.
Blessings,
Missy
October 14th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
missy903, we did create a PDF for the Pumpkin Patch Cake recipe, after several people requested it. I suppose I can create a PDF of this recipe as well, though it takes a bit of time.
It is a great recipe, though, so I’ll put it on my list, and if I need a break from the Winter 2007 issue, I’ll put it together.
Thanks!
October 14th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
Actually, going back to the first comment about the pictures… I just want to say that I LOVE how you always put them with the recipes… I don’t know, there’s just something about seeing all those pictures of the various stages that makes me really want to make it! =)
We are going on vacation in a month, and are trying to plan a menu… Mom just said “That’s definitely going on the menu!” =) (I think we’ll be trying it before then, though…)
November 12th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
This is Great!
I am in a food coop and the group LOVED this. This freezes great. This works well with cottage cheese also to cut down cost.Keep up the good work! I love you magazine!
December 26th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
This one looks great too…you all have outdone yourselves…I’ll be trying this one too.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.