baked ziti plus

Ingredients

• Servings: 16
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• 2 pounds ground beef
• 2 (28 ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
• 1 (28 ounce) can tomato puree
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 3 pounds italian link sausage
• 2 green bell peppers, cut into 1/2-inch strips
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 2 (16 ounce) packages rigatoni
• 2 (16 ounce) packages mozzarella cheese
• 1 (24 ounce) carton ricotta cheese

Recipe

Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 3 hrs 55 mins

Ready Time: 4 hrs 15 mins


• heat olive oil in a stockpot over medium-low heat; cook and stir garlic in the hot oil until lightly browned, 1 to 2 minutes.
• heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. cook and stir beef in the hot skillet until browned and crumbly, 5 to 7 minutes; drain and discard grease. stir ground beef into garlic. add crushed tomatoes and tomato puree to ground beef mixture; season with salt and pepper. cover stockpot and simmer mixture, stirring occasionally, until flavors have blended, about 2 hours.
• heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. cook sausage links in the hot skillet until browned and not longer pink in the center, 10 to 15 minutes; drain and discard grease. slice sausages into 1/4-inch rounds. stir sausage, green bell pepper, and onion into the simmering tomato sauce; cook, stirring occasionally until bell pepper and onion are softened, about 1 hour.
• preheat oven to 350 degrees f (175 degrees c).
• bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. cook rigatoni in the boiling water, stirring occasionally until cooked through but firm to the bite, 10 to 11 minutes. drain and return rigatoni to pot.
• dice about 3/4 the mozzarella into 1/8-inch cubes. mix cubed mozzarella with ricotta cheese in a bowl. stir cheese mixture into cooked rigatoni until mozzarella cheese begins to melt. pour rigatoni-cheese mixture into 2 large casserole dishes; add tomato-meat sauce. toss well.
• slice the remaining mozzarella cheese and arrange on top of rigatoni mixtures.
• bake in the preheated oven until mozzarella cheese is melted and browned, about 45 minutes.