chicken parm/ziti recipes?

We're having 12 people for dinner Saturday (family) and want to do something kind of simple that people can easily serve themselves. Does anyone have some simple yummy recipes for chicken parm and ziti that they can share? I've made eggplant parm before but never chicken parm and I haven't done ziti but it seems simple enough! Also, can I make these things the night before and then just heat them up the night of? Will it taste good that way? TIA!

Re: chicken parm/ziti recipes?

Baked Ziti is really easy

cook the pasta and drain.

while pasta is cooking, heat your sauce and make cheese mixture.

Cheese mixture is ricotta cheese, 1 or 2 eggs (depending on how much you are making), parsley and shredded mozzarella.

put back in the pot and add sauce, the cheese mixture and stir. the mixture should be very moist but not soupy.

Put mixture in the pan that you are going to bake in....add more sauce on top if needed then top with tons of shredded mozzarella cheese.

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees until the cheese is bubbly on top

Note: if you are making it the night before....take the ziti out of the refrigerator and let warm up to room temp before putting in the oven, It wont burn and will heat up in the middle faster.

Re: chicken parm/ziti recipes?

i cheat when i make my chick.parm....i buy pre-breaded cutlets from the meat market.....i bake them for about 25-30 minutes....i then add the sauce and cheese and i continue to bake for another 20 min or so!! for baked ziti, i just follow the recipe on the box...it's really simple....

Re: chicken parm/ziti recipes?

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


PS - the "real deal" Italians hard boil 6 eggs, chop them up and add them to the baked ziti when you are mixing all the ingredients -- so, they just add them in with the cold cuts... I'm not a fan of hard boiled eggs so I omit this but if you like that, by all means, add it!

I get so many compliments from this recipe!