Three-cheese ziti pasta bake

Adam Liaw

all details

1-2 hours
Easy
Italian
Serves 6

When the cold weather rolls in, there's nothing better than putting your oven to work: just put your dish in, close the door and let it do the work while you curl up on the couch. Anyone who loved The Sopranos will know all about baked ziti, the cheesy, layered Italian-American spin on pasta al forno. Here's a recipe to satisfy your inner wise guy.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Reader ratings (15)
Contains: Total commentsComments 1

Comfort food, Sopranos style: Three cheese baked ziti pasta. Photo: William Meppem

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

800g (2 cans) diced tomato

1 tsp salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

¼ tsp dried oregano

1 cup roasted capsicum, thinly sliced

200g mild cacciatore salami, thinly sliced

½ cup pitted kalamata olives

750g ziti or penne pasta

300g ricotta cheese

300g buffalo mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced

100g grated parmesan cheese

Method

1. Heat a large saucepan over medium heat and add the olive oil, onion and garlic. Reduce the heat to low and cook slowly for about 20 minutes until translucent and lightly caramelised.

2. Add the diced tomato, salt, pepper and oregano and bring to a simmer. Simmer covered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, then stir through the capsicum, olives and 150g of the salami. Simmer for a further 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

3. Heat your oven to 180C. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta for about three minutes less than the packet directions. It should be cooked, but very firm and still a little crunchy in the centre. Rinse with cold water, drain and return to the pot. Stir through a third of the pasta sauce.

4. Place half the coated pasta into a large baking dish. Cover with another third of the pasta sauce and dollop over the ricotta cheese. Cover with the remaining pasta and another layer of the remaining pasta sauce. Cover with the mozzarella, scatter with the parmesan and place the reserved salami on top. Bake for 30 minutes until the cheese is melted and the pasta cooked. Grind over a little more black pepper and serve.

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Main Ingredients - Pasta, Cheese, Pork
Cuisine - Italian
Course - Main-course, Dinner
Occasion - Family meals

1 comment so far

I put on weight just reading this recipe!

Commenter: The Torch
Location
Date and time: May 10, 2016, 11:13AM

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