02 February 2007

Baked Ziti with Sausage

Our friends, the Naves, make the best food. Here is one of their specialties: kind of like lasagna, only better (and easier!).

8 oz. ziti or penne pasta
1 ½ cups ricotta cheese } or plain yogurt... it is still so good
1 cup sour cream }
½ teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon dried basil
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 ½ pounds sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 jar of tomato sauce (14-16 ounces)
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

2. Cook pasta and drain. Combine pasta, ricotta, sour cream, thyme, basil, salt, and pepper. Cook sausage and onion, add tomato sauce. Spread half the pasta mixture in bottom of a 2 quart baking dish, top with half the sausage mixture. Repeat layers, and top with mozzarella. Bake until heated through, and cheese is bubbly, about 35-40 minutes. Can be made in advance and frozen.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

All I know is that picture looks good... can I eat it..the picture that is.

Marie said...

Dude, I just made baked ziti last week and it was gross. Maybe I'll try again.

emilie said...

why was it gross? Did it remind you of that crap in the Great Hall on Sunday nights?

Anonymous said...

I love baked ziti. The cheese is the best part!

emilie said...

Dear anonymous,
sure you can eat that picture. The Naves' baked ziti looks way better than that anyway. :)

This is sounding really good right now. I think I will make it for valentine's day.

Anonymous said...

you said Valentine's Day in the OPC... wow.

emilie said...

Ken and I had an OPC valentine's day. We had a lovely romantic dinner of baked ziti together, then we went our separate ways and studied - Ken studied theology and I studied Greek. :)

By the by, I left the ricotta out and used yogurt instead of sour cream... and it was still phenomenal.

Anonymous said...

YUM--it was great! IT doesn't even compare to college caf baked ziti...which always seemed to have the last "i" erased on the chalk board in our college cafe...lol but gross!
Anyway, this version was awesome. However, I forgot to look at your substitutions when I made my grocery list last week and therefore made it w/ ricotta and sour cream...I will definitely try the plain yogurt route next time!

emilie said...

yay! so glad you liked it. it is fabulous for a crowd.