Baked Ziti

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I love pasta. I don't usually make baked pastas, though, except for the occasional lasagna or baked tortellini from Giada. But this recipe for Baked Ziti from Taste and See looked really good!

It was very quick and easy to make, and everyone loved it, Ryan included. He ate a ton! The best part is that there's plenty of leftovers, since I doubled this. Now we have lunch for tomorrow too.




Ingredients:

• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 8 ounces ziti rigate (ridged) or other short pasta
• 1 cup part-skim ricotta
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 3/4 cup finely grated Parmesan
• 1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella
• 1 jar (24 to 26 ounces) tomato sauce (about 3 1/2 cups) (I used the sauce a couple of posts down and just eyeballed the amount.)
  

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta until al dente, according to package instructions; drain and reserve.

In a small bowl, combine ricotta, egg, 1/4 cup Parmesan, and half the mozzarella; season with salt and pepper.

In the bottom of a shallow 2-quart casserole dish, spread half the tomato sauce. Top with ziti, then ricotta mixture and remaining sauce. (I mixed the ricotta mixture in with the pasta and some sauce.) Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan and remaining mozzarella. Place casserole on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake until top is browned and sauce is bubbling, 20 to 25 minutes.