Baked Ziti with Marscarpone

I adore pasta. Shocked? ;)



I stumbled upon this little variation on Elizabeth's Cooking Experiments and knew it'd be a perfect comfort dinner.

With the arrival of this new little guy or girl soon, I actually decided to double the recipe and freeze some for after we return home from the hospital. Idiot that I am, however, forgot to double the marscarpone. Whoops.



I've never made a baked ziti without the use of ricotta, though, so I was a bit skeptical of the sour cream. I needn't have worried, however, because even with only half as much marscarpone, it was absolutely delicious. It's been difficult not pulling out the version in the freezer!

Ingredients

• 1 lb ziti pasta
• 1 (26 oz) jar spaghetti sauce
• 1/2 lb ground beef
• 1 small onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 oz mascarpone cheese
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1-2 cups Mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta to al dente. Drain & set aside.

Meanwhile, brown meat with onion & garlic. Season with salt & pepper to taste. Add marinara sauce to the pan and simmer for about 10 minutes. Thin the sauce just a tad with about 1/8 cup water or chicken stock. Season the sauce with garlic & herbs, to taste.

In a large bowl, combine mascarpone cheese, sour cream, and cooked pasta.Layer the pasta, sauce and cheese in a large greased casserole dish as follows:

1/2 pasta
1/2 sauce
1/2 cheese
remaining pasta
remaining sauce
remaining cheese

Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and top with Parmesan cheese and bake for an additional 5 minutes. Let sit for about 10 minutes before serving.