BAKED ZITI

BAKED ZITI

File this under "Easy Breezy"

1 - 11"x9" pan

1/2 lbs. ground Italian Sausage (Spicy Hot)

1lbs. ground Sirloin

2 Jars of Ragu traditional red sauce

1lbs of mozzarella cheese

1lbs of Rigatoni

2 Bottles of Bell'agio Table Wine

1 Loaf of Garlic Bread

1 clove of Garlic

Random spices: Basil, Oregano and Sugar

A couple side notes: A lot of southern style Baked Ziti uses ricotta cheese, but Jay doesn't because the dish is fattening enough already, and he doesn't like the texture of ricotta. It's a personal thing.

The reason Jay uses Ragu is because it is a good base sauce if you don't have the time to make sauce from scratch. A lot of other jarred sauces have many spices added and end up tasting chemically. So, Jay has, through trial and error, found Ragu to be the best quick base sauce.

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Step one: Turn on some music.  (in this case it's "Limit to Your Love" by James Blake)

Step two:  Start singing along with the music, and doing a butt-wiggle dance in the kitchen as you add two jars of Ragu into a large sauce pan, then turn the heat on low.  Add a little water to the empty sauce jar (about 1/8 of the jar.) Close the lid and shake, then pour the water/sauce mixture into the sauce.  Lick off any sauce that got on your fingers.  Now sing a random verse from the song your listening to.

DO NOT DUMP the sauce down the drain as J did.  Opps!

Step Three:  Take three or four decent sized Garlic cloves, peel them and flatten them like pancakes.

Step Four: Dice said smashed Garlic

Step Five: Turn the heat on under the sauce. Add half of the smashed garlic to the sauce, along with 3 tablespoons of that good ol' table wine and a teaspoon of sugar.  Put the lid on it. 

(Here I asked Jay why the lid? When you fry beef, you keep the lid off, so the juices can escape, preventing greasy beef.  But when you do sauce, leave the lid on so that it doesn't evaporate." Ah, I say)

Don't forget to occasionally stir the sauce..

By now we have switched our music to BBC1 - Benji- B Radio Show exploring some Future Beats with some guy named Jay-rock or something... When our roommate says.. Yay.. Drum and Bass.  Jason replies in his uncanny British accent... "No, Randy, this is not Drum and Bass, this is Future Beats!" 

Step Six: Dance a little.

Step Seven:  In a large frying pan, add a couple tablespoons of olive oil and heat it up on HIGH.

( NOTE on Olive Oil:  "Extra Virgin, just the way I like it!" )   Swish the olive oil around the pan a little, while you shake your booty to some tunes...

Step Eight:  Once the frying pan is nice and toasty, add some more of that smashed up garlic and watch it sizzle.  

Step Nine: Take the 1/2  lbs. of spicy sausage (shut up, pervs!) If it's ground, like ours, break it up and fry it.

Because the sausage is so spicy, and we don't really want too much spiciness in baked ziti, we're going to sweeten it up a bit. Add a pinch of basil and a pinch of oregano.  There ya go! 

Good job!

Typically, when making sauce with Ragu, you really want to add some different things to it to make it your own, to make it stand out a little. But in this case, the meat itself and the items we have added to the meat, which are all going in the sauce, really add the missing flavor.

Drink some wine!

At this point BBC1 Benji-B has spent 20 minutes talking over the tunes, and all they have talked about was their names and the name of their station, Daft!..  So we switch to BBC Fabio & Grooverider, who drop the beat, and then, suddenly, take it away and they don't shut up either... 

Luckily, our roommate, Randy, came in with his I-Pod and played some good sets a friend of his put together.  

Thank you Randy and said friend!

Dancing continues...

Step Ten: Once the sausage is cooked, add it to the sauce while stirring.

Step Eleven: While smoking a cigarette (Peggy Bundy Style) Jay opens the ground sirloin and drops that in the now empty frying pan, breaking it up and stirring it to evenly cook it. Add the rest of the garlic to the sirloin.

Drink some more wine... 

At this point, all we are doing is keeping the beef and sauce from burning so Jay states: "And now for my favorite part of cooking: When my boyfriend is paying enough attention that I can walk away!" and he proceeds to walk over to the stereo and do a little dance and chat with the roomie.

 ... A few minutes later Jay returns

Step Twelve: Add cooked beef to sauce while stirring.

Step Thirteen: Pre-heat oven to 350 Degrees.

Step Fourteen: Put a large pot of water on high heat, bring it to a boil.  Once it boils, add the pasta, and stir occasionally - Don't want them noodles sticking together.

Step fifteen: Put some garlic bread in the oven.

Step Sixteen: Take that Mozzarella Cheese and cut it into thin slices. 

 ( do try and refrain from taking slices and dipping them in the sauce too much, you want some cheese to cook with remember!)

I ask if it's possible to stir too much.  Jay responds, "Yes..  Remember we cover the sauce to keep it from evaporating, the more you stir, the more it escapes. Of course, not stirring enough burns the sauce. It is a delicate balance..  Trial and error, peoples.." 

Step seventeen: When the pasta is done, drain the water and add the pasta to the sauce, stir. 

Step Eighteen: Pour the sauce/meat/pasta mixture into your 11"x 9" pan, and spread out evenly. Now layer with slices of mozzarella cheese, and to top it all off, sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top.

Step Nineteen: Insert into oven for about 30 minutes.

Step Twenty: Take it out of the oven, pick your jaw up off the ground, let it cool and revel in its beauty.

SERVED!!!!!

 

***TIP:  Have a friend or loved one clean behind you..  
Drink wine generously, dance around and have fun!