Monday, March 30, 2009

Baked Ziti

I am ashamed to say that I have never made baked ziti before. I know! I thought it was pretty much the same as lasagna, so I would just...you know, make lasagna. I made it tonight though and loved it!

  • 1 pound dry ziti pasta
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 pound lean ground beef
  • 2 (26 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce
  • 6 ounces provolone cheese, sliced
  • 1 1/2 cups sour cream
  • 6 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
  • 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheesed

DIRECTIONS

  1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add ziti pasta, and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes; drain.
  2. In a large skillet, brown onion and ground beef over medium heat. Add spaghetti sauce, and simmer 15 minutes.
  3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer as follows: 1/2 of the ziti, Provolone cheese, sour cream, 1/2 sauce mixture, remaining ziti, mozzarella cheese and remaining sauce mixture. Top with grated Parmesan cheese.
  4. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cheeses are melted.
Okay, I used an "italian" blend of shredded cheese instead of just the provolone (gotta get whats on sale people), and I used penne instead of ziti because Target had absolutely no ziti...do they still make ziti, just not at target? No idea. Anyway...I layered the sauce on top of the noodles and then the cheese (according to reviewers that makes the noodles taste better). Oh and I used that parmasean in a tube shaker thingy, not shredded. Cheese is cheese. That's my motto.

It was a crowd pleaser and I might have to fight Blaine for the leftovers tomorrow.

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