Baked Ziti With Easy Homemade Italian Gravy
- Ready In:
- 1hr 20mins
- Ingredients:
- 21
- Yields:
-
1 9X12 baking pan
- Serves:
- 6-8
ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (not extra virgin)
- 1 (28 ounce) can Italian plum tomatoes
- 1 (28 ounce) can tomato puree
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1 tablespoon dried basil
- 1 chunk pecorino romano cheese (2-inch x 1/4-inch)
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1⁄2 teaspoon dried basil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tablespoons Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
- 1⁄2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 lb Italian sausage, with fennel 4-5 inches each
- 1⁄2 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced
- to taste hot pepper flakes (optional)
- 1 lb ziti pasta, rigatti
- 1 lb part-skim ricotta cheese
- 1 lb part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1⁄4 cup pecorino romano cheese, grated
- 1⁄2 teaspoon black pepper
directions
- Gravy (2 hours before dinner or as early as a few days before) in a medium bowl mix together . . . ground beef, 1 tsp dried parsley, 1/2 tsp dried basil, 1 clove garlic minced, 2 TBS Italian Flavored Bread Crumbs, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper. Mix with fork until evenly blended. Brown meat mixture in olive oil in a 5 qt sauce pan. When cooked almost through remove.
- Drain pan. Add 1 lb sausage. Brown well on all sides. Remove.
- Drain pan well. Saute 1/2 lb sliced slice fresh mushroom until slightly brown.
- Return sausage links and ground meat mixture to sauce pan. Add tomatoes, puree, 1 tsp parsley, 1 TBS basil, 1 clove minced garlic. Simmer 1 hour. Remove sausage, slice (1/4 ") return to pot. continue to simmer until ready to use.
- NEXT. Fill large pot with 5 quarts cold water. Bring to boil. Cook ziti according to package directions (al dente).
- While ziti is cooking mix together ricotta, 3/4 lb mozzarella, Romano and black pepper.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Drain ziti well. Place in 9X12 baking dish. Add cheese mixture blend well.
- With slotted spoon, remove 2-3 cups meat and mushrooms from gravy. Add to ziti. Add 1 cup extra sauce. Mix well. Top with remaining mozzarella. Cover. Bake 30 minutes. remove cover and baked another 5-10 minutes, until cheese melts and gets bubbly. You do not want it to brown.
- Also works well with medium sized shells.
- 1 cup sliced black olives may be added to recipe or substituted for mushrooms.
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
I love to cook and cook with love