Ziti with Meat Sauce

Growing up we ate a lot of pasta dishes, but I must admit ziti (or as my grandmother called it lazy lasgana) was one of my favorites. It always made the house smell so good! So the other day after a crazy week of holiday festivities and traveling I decided it was time for some good old confort food... so naturally ziti was my go to choice, and everyone in my house loved it. :)

For this recipe you are going to need

• 1lb of dry cut pasta (and shape will work)
• 1 8oz block of mozzarella cheese
• 1 8 oz container of ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp oregano
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

You start off by making your basic sauce recipe. If you want to you can add ground beef, sausage or even venison to your sauce. Typically I cook the meat first and then make the sauce as usual. (You can also use sauce from the store)

When your sauce is ready you can put the pasta water on the heat and cook it til just al dente. Because you will be baking it in the oven as well you want to leave it a little chewy so it doesn't turn to mush at the end.

After your pasta is drained you can mix up your ricotta and Parmesan mixture (in a separate bowl). Add in the egg, pepper and oregano and stir to combine.

Now it's time to assemble!

Start by taking a little bit of your sauce and putting a few spoonfuls into your ricotta mixture, so that when you combine it with the rest of the warm ingredients you don't scramble your egg. After that is mixed together you can put the pasta back in the pot and pour in the sauce and the ricotta. Mix well and when it is all combined put it in a 13x9 baking pan and cover with the mozzarella cheese.

Then just pop it into a 425 degree oven for about 30 minutes and you are all set.

Mangia!