FROM ITALY! Baked Ziti Recipe:

This is Grandma Rella's famous baked ziti recipe FROM Italy. This is my FIL's mother who is from Bari and this recipe is the shiiiiit. and NOT hard!

Baked Ziti

-1 lb. pasta
-1/2 lb. mortadella (ask for it thinly sliced at any butcher)
-1/2 lb. ham (same thing - thinly sliced)
-1 lb. mozzarella cheese (in a block - fresh)
-3.5 cups grated parmasean cheese
-Equivilent of 1 jar of meat sauce -- we don't buy sauce in the jar, we make fresh but you can buy a good sauce and it is the same difference. i have had it both ways (when i'm lazy).

cube everything first -- cube mortadella, ham and mozzarella cheese. that way, you are all set.

cook pasta - when done and strained mix in a little bit of sauce so that the pasta doesn't stick together. i would say about 1/2 cup to 1 cup of sauce - depending on how much you like. i'm not a sauce person so i put a small amount.

in a standard lasagna pan (about 13x9) put half of the pasta in the pan - nice and flat in order to layer, then put all of the cold cuts (spread evenly), and the first 1/2 lb of the mozzarella cheese - evenly spread.

sprinkle three cups of the grated cheese -- evenly -- it should be a thin film of grated cheese.

then, add the rest of the pasta on top of that! top off with the rest of the mozzarella (so, the other half pound) and half a cup of the parm grated cheese -- all evenly distributed. you can add some extra sauce at this point - it depends on how much sauce you want. i usually don't put anymore on it -- just the bit in the beginning to keep it from sticking. what i do is i save the rest of the sauce on the SIDE and people spoon it on when they eat it. b/c i'm really not a sauce person.

bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes -- at the end, i switch it over to broil (a feature on your oven) for about the last 5/6 minutes to get those golden brown crispy edges and top!!!!

my husband wants me to add that, when you buy your coldcuts, buy the boars' head brand he is a stickler about this one part.

ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Message edited 9/26/2008 6:25:25 PM.

Re: FROM ITALY! Baked Ziti Recipe:

That's so cute about your DH's input!

Re: FROM ITALY! Baked Ziti Recipe:

thanks for sharing!! oh and my grandmother and grandfather's family are both from Bari!!