Tonight's meal that I'm preparing while I wait for Mike to arrive home from Austin... I pulled one of our house favorite reds from the wine rack, a blend of the 5 classic bordeaux varieties (Cabernet, Merlot, Cab Franc, Malbec & Petit Verdot) the 2007 Double T from Trefethen, about $25. It goes well with red meats & red sauces. Normally I would pair the dish I plan to make with an Amarone, but we don't have one in the house, so this California red is very versatile for what it is.
When I moved to Los Angeles 7 years ago, I got a kick out the fact that no one out here had ever tasted baked ziti -- or barely knew what it is (!!!) Growing up in Central NJ, you couldn't go to any sort of social event without a big tray of ziti being served. I'm not even Italian, but I love The Ziti. It's so easy to make and serves a small army, so it became my "go to" dish when I entertain or am asked to bring something to potlucks. I think by now almost everyone who knows me in LA has been served The Ziti. Who knew it could be such an "exotic" dish? It's always the first dish everyone digs into at the buffet table. And there are almost always leftovers. The only evolution I have made in the dish is making my own red sauce instead of using sauce from a jar. It's even hard to find ziti noodles in the grocery stores in LA, so whenever I stumble on some on the shelves, I usually stock up on a few boxes.
THE ZITI
1 box of ziti noodles
1 lb. ground beef
16 oz. part skim mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
2 28 oz. cans of San Marzano tomatoes
2-3 strips of roasted red peppers
16 oz. part skim ricotta
1 egg, beaten
handful of fresh garden basil & oregano, finely chopped
1/2 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp. olive oil
salt, pepper, ground red pepper & sugar to taste
Heat oven to 350. Boil water on stove. Start the sauce first: put olive oil, half of the onions and garlic in a deep pan or pot. Make sure they do not brown. When the onions start to get translucent, add the 2 cans of the tomatoes, along with the juice. Add the basil and oregano and bring to a boil. Once the tomatoes begin to soften, take a potato masher and mash down the tomatoes to break them up. (Be careful--they squirt.) To your taste, add salt, pepper, ground red pepper (optional) and sugar (optional). The need for sugar should be minimal since the onions considerably sweeten the sauce. Simmer for 30 minutes.
While the sauce is simmering...
1. Add the ziti noodles to the boiling water. Cook for about 8 minutes. You want the noodles al dente.
2. Brown hamburger meat with half of the onions & garlic. (You can also add more basil & oregano if you want.) Make sure the bits of meat are very small. When cooked, drain out the fat. In a large bowl, combine the ricotta cheese & beaten egg (the egg helps bind the filling). Fold in the hamburger meat. Add salt, pepper, a half cup of parmesan cheese, and a half cup of mozzarella.
The sauce should be ready now. If you like your sauce chunky, you can keep it this way, but I usually run it through the food processor for 5 seconds to smooth it out.
Take a 9 by 11 Pyrex dish and line the bottom with sauce. Take 1 cup of sauce and mix it into the meat & ricotta mixture. Add the noodles to the mixture & make sure all the noddles are covered. You can add a little more sauce if you want. Put all the noodles into the baking dish and smush them down. Pour the rest of the sauce on top of the ziti. Sprinkle the rest of the mozzarella on top so that it's fully covered. (Add cracked pepper or basil on top if it suits you.)
Bake covered at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, bake uncovered for another 10 minutes, or until cheese bubbles.
One of our favorite local Italian markets in the area is Sorrento's in Culver City. It's a little bit of a cluttered dump inside but they have EVERYTHING. They even own a farm in Central CA & always have produce from the farm available for a very reasonable price. Whenever I throw a dinner party, you can bet the antipasto platter or some cannolis or cookies came from Sorrento's. Mike was ecstatic to find a huge jar of the Lupini beans that his grandmother used to have on hand when he went to visit her (I find them fairly revolting, but to each his/her own). Anyway, their cannolis are solid, so guess what was for dessert!
Just for the record, we only ocassionally eat fattening foods like this. We do watch our weight, but it's all about balance. And we love pasta. I will imagine tomorrow's dinner will feature lots of vegetables!
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