Baked Ziti

Everyone loves pasta and baked ziti is definitely many people’s favorite. It’s a cheesy, bubbly, baked pasta dish, what’s not to love?

I currently have about a pound of basil in my fridge and am trying to find ways to use it up before it wilts so I added it and it totally worked! It sort of infused it with a floral scent and gave it an incredible flavor so feel free to add a few tablespoons-worth if you have some lying around.

All you’ll need is:

1 pound ziti pasta (you can surely cheat with penne or fusilli)

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

12 oz. ricotta cheese

6 oz. marinara sauce

A few tablespoons parmesan cheese

Salt/pepper

Boil the pasta in salted water for about 5-6 minutes, not all the way! It still needs to be quite hard on the inside because it’s going to finish cooking in the oven and we don’t want to overcook it.

Preheat the oven to 370 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the mozzarella, ricotta, marinara, 1/4 tsp of salt, ½ tsp of pepper and the basil if you’re using it. Add the drained pasta and stir well. Pour the mixture into a baking dish and sprinkle with parmesan over the top. Bake for 25 minutes and ta-da!