- 1 lb rigatoni, or ziti
- 26 oz passata, or puréed canned tomato
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 lemon, zested
- 450g mozzarella, sliced
- 250g ricotta cheese
- 2 eggs
- 100g parmigiano (or pecorino), grated fresh
- Basil, chiffonade
- Parsley, finely minced
- Calabrian chili, or red pepper flake
Prepare the sauce by sautéing onions until translucent, then adding black pepper and chili, to taste, at the final minute. Add tomatoes and sauté 10 minutes, minimally reducing.
Boil pasta and cook until 1 minute from being finished.
While sauce is cooking, prepare ricotta cream. In a large mixing bowl, add eggs and beat until homogenized, stir in the ricotta, all 100g of grated cheese, minced parsley, lemon zest, and mix until you have a smooth uniform cream.
When the pasta is done (slightly undercooked) transfer it to a large mixing bowl and toss with sauce.
Grease a 9” x 13” baking dish. Ladle half of pasta into baking dish, on top, spread the ricotta cream in a uniform layer. Lay down the remaining pasta, then spread remaining ricotta cream, and finish with 1” thick mozzarella slices. Drizzle olive oil on top and brush even.
Bake in a 400F oven for about 10 minutes, then move to broil until cheese is browned and bubbling. Let sit for 10 minutes and cover top with fresh olive oil and freshly cut basil.
by crek42
4 Comments
Fancy! Mine goes like this
Ugh look at all those mostly empty pasta boxes
Make the mixed pasta
Make a besciamella
Dig around in the freezer to find some leftover sugo or whatever
Mix it all together, add some kind of cheese or not
Bake for a while
Yay I didn’t really cook and I’m eating
I hesitated to use lemon zest here because it doesn’t seem traditional but lemon zest + ricotta is a delicious combo.
I grew up eating “baked ziti” and I think so much of Italian American cuisine goes too hard on the ricotta. Having a thin layer versus using a big amount mixed into the sauce creates a much more balanced dish.
Of course this will be my opinion, based on my experience making ‘traditional’ Italian bakes:
1. You do not need parsley, actually I would not add it to a pasta bake
2. You do not need eggs
3. Pasta needs to be way more undercooked – otherwise it will be severely overcooked in the oven . If it says 10’ on the packet I would cook it for about 5?
Rest is to personal taste but I would say these three points are critical to a ‘proper’ Italian pasta bake. Many will say that you probably do not need ricotta given that you have mozzarella and hard cheese, but i think that’s to taste.
That is a lot of cheese. And I like cheese. But like that’s more cheese than pasta. Would recommend subbing most of the cheese for a bechamel, only topping the dish with some mozzarella and maybe a dusting of parm when it comes out the oven. For bechamel try 1:1:20 of butter:flour:milk, I like a touch of nutmeg.