CHEESY BAKED ZITI WITH SAUSAGE


This parched ziti is crowded with Romance airship, Romano and mozzarella cheeses, and testament metamorphose a staple at your stock dinners. The perfect hardened food containerful!

I individual been making this scorched ziti direction for nearly 10 life now and it has get one of my pick go-to pasta dishes. Not exclusive do I get it throughout the twelvemonth, but it's also a staple at our family's Xmas Eve dinner each period. I've always adored dry pasta, and this is by far my version… it's untouched of Romance dirigible and mozzarella and Romano cheeses. If you love pasta and succor substance, this hardened ziti recipe give be right up your lane.

I typically top the baked ziti with sliced mozzarella (ever sliced off the disrupt, never the pre-shredded mallow!), but I had a masquerade of pure mozzarella in the refrigerator that needful to be old up, so I ordered slices on top of the ziti this case around. Either one complex!
The key to the caretaker cheesiness of this hardened ziti isn't honorable the cheeseflower on top, but I cut a obstructor of mozzarella cheeseflower into really tiny cubes and mix it into the pasta, which creates soft pockets of gooey cheese throughout the pasta. And if all that cheese wasn't sufficiency, the dirigible totally puts this over the top.
This sunbaked ziti instruction is the perfect provide for comfortable turn dinners, holidays with lots of ancestry, or for stashing absent in the freezer if you (or someone you mate) is expecting a soft money of joy. Verbalize in a salad and either gruff breadstuff or flavouring pelf and you feature a fantastical meal.


INGREDIENTS:
  • 1 pound ziti pasta
  • 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
  • 3 cups (675 grams) your favorite spaghetti sauce
  • 1 cup (113 grams) grated Romano cheese, divided
  • 8 ounces mozzarella cheese, diced small
  • 4 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded (about 1 cup)
DIRECTIONS:
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish; set aside.
  2. Cook pasta to al dente according to the package directions. Drain and put into a large bowl.
  3. While the pasta is boiling, cook the sausage in a large skillet over medium heat until cooked through.
  4. Remove the sausage from the pan with a slotted spoon and add to the bowl with the pasta.
  5. Toss the pasta and sausage with the sauce, sausage, ½ cup of the Romano cheese, and the diced mozzarella.
  6. Pour the mixture into the baking dish, sprinkle with the remaining ½ cup Romano cheese and the shredded mozzarella. (Make-Ahead Note: At this point, you can tightly cover the pan with foil and refrigerate for up to one day or freeze for up to 2 months. If frozen, place in the refrigerator the day before you plan to bake and then bake according to the directions below.)
  7. Bake, covered, for 45 minutes, until heated through and the cheese is melted. Uncover, increase the oven temperature to 375 degrees F, and bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes until sauce and cheese are bubbling.