Surprising Baked Ziti

Total Time: 50 mins Preparation Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 1/2 lb ziti pasta
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 6 minced garlic cloves
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 2 cups crushed tomatoes (for this recipe i use cento tomatoes)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh black pepper
• 1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup store bought pesto sauce

Recipe

• 1 preheat oven to 350.
• 2 oil an 8x8 baking dish.
• 3 cook pasta in salted water for 7 min, drain, and tinse.
• 4 heat 1 1/2 tbsp of the oil in a pan over med- low heat.
• 5 cook onion until it becomes translucent.
• 6 add garlic and cook it for 30 sec.
• 7 add tomato, salt, and bay leaf.
• 8 raise heat to medium.
• 9 simmer mixture for 10 min or until it gets very thick.
• 10 remove the bay leaf and stir in 1/4 tsp pepper.
• 11 in a bowl, combine the pesto, half the parmesan, the ricotta, 1 cup of the mozzarella, and the remaining black pepper.
• 12 put 1/2 of the pasta in the baking dish.
• 13 top with 1/3 of the sauce.
• 14 spread entire cheese mixture evenly over the sauce.
• 15 cover with the remaining pasta, sauce, and cheese.
• 16 drizzle 1/2 tbsp olive oil over the top layer of cheese.
• 17 bake until bubbling (about 30 min).
• 18 let stand at least 10 minutes before cutting.