Thursday, March 27, 2008

Baked Ziti

This is one of those recipes that is so easy you think, "Why didn't I think of that?" I'm sure that a lot of your families are like mine--they love anything with pasta and red sauce. All my boys will usually eat a few servings of anything "spaghetti-ish." This is nice because it is a little different than your traditional spaghetti meal. I just used whatever cheese was in the fridge when I made this (swiss and monterey jack--odd combo, I know) and it still tasted fabulous.

1 lb. ziti pasta (you can use penne or rigatoni too)
1 onion, chopped
1 lb. lean ground beef
2 (26 oz) jars of spaghetti sauce
6 oz. provolone, sliced
1 1/2 c. sour cream
6 oz. mozzarella, shredded
2 T. parmesean

1. Bring a lightly salted water to boil in a pan. Add ziti pasta and cool until al dente (it means to the bite--slightly firm), about 8 mins; drain.

2. In a large skillet, brown onion and ground beef over medium heat. Add sauce and simmer about 15 mins (if time).

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter a 9x13 pan. Layer: 1/2 ziti, all of provolone, sour cream, 1/2 sauce, remaining ziti, mozzarella, and rest of sauce. Top with parmesean.

4. Bake 30 minutes or until cheese is melted.

2 comments:

April said...

Sometimes if I'm in a big hurry I'll just cook up the pasta and sauce, mix together, and then toss in some grated cheese and forget baking it altogether. It actually turns out fairly well.

Chad and Amy Hatfield said...

The sour cream and two separate layers of cheese make this more like a lasagna, but not quite. It falls in between "spaghetti" and lasagna. Thanks for posting April! We all appreciate your idea. :)