J's Romantic Baked Ziti

I wish I had a picture for this, but sadly we ate it all before I decided I would post this.

J. made this for me a few years ago for Valentine's Day. I requested it this year because I came across the recipe again. That and this dish is A-mazing. It takes a little bit of time to prepare, but it is well worth it. This and J's Mexican casserole are two things I always request him to make for dinner because they are so darn tasty.

I think J. originally found this recipe at http://www.italianfoodforever.com/ but I don't have that copy anymore. I just have my dirty recipe card. :) Does anyone else seem to dirty anything and everything that is in the kitchen? My favorite recipes are distinguished by my messes that always end up on them.

Guys, if you can do this, it's a super romantic dish and sooo tasty. And it's a manly dish... it has sausage. :)

You can adapt this recipe to fit in a bento box. I have baked individual servings in muffin cups. The only thing I would say about that is you might want to use a different type of pasta (elbow noodles, spaghetti, orzo might be nice, etc.). I've never tried freezing this dish to see how it works in the freezer. It never really lasts that long with us.


Ziti al Forno

2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp minced onion
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 carrot diced
1 celery stalk, diced
4 links hot or sweet Italian sausage
salt & pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
1/2 cup red wine, or beef stock
2 (14 oz.) cans chopped tomatoes
1 lb. ziti pasta (we can never find ziti so we use penne)
1 1/2 cups mozzarella, grated or diced
3 oz. Parmesan, grated
3 well beaten eggs

Brown the sausage links well in a heavy sauce pan. Remove and cut into 1/2 inch rounds. Next, make the sauce by heating the olive oil and cooking vegetables until they are softened. Add the wine or stock and cook until reduced by half. Add the tomatoes, salt, pepper, oregano, sausage pieces, and parsley, and simmer for 60 minutes until thickened.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta until al dente. Drain the pasta, and add to the sauce, mixing well.
In a buttered, oven proof dish, add 1/3 of the pasta, then sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Repeat the layers until everything is in the dish. Pour over the top of the pasta the beaten eggs, then sprinkle with the Parmesan.
Bake in a preheated 400 F oven until bubbly, 15 to 20 minutes roughly. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

I hope you try this recipe.
 
Take care!

A Update Post

Ok... so maybe I wasn't as go-get-'em as I could be with my blog. But I promise a lot has happened since I quit posting. Lots of stressful and exciting things.
First, I quit grad-school. I'm pretty sure I wasn't meant to be a graduate student. It was just too stressful. The fact that I stopped going to school meant I didn't need a lunch packed every day. Ooops.
Next, and this is the exciting one, I am engaged! Not only that but I'm only 50 days from the wedding day.(yes, I have a count down going. I started it the day after I got engaged.)
So, neck deep in wedding planning and without a daily job in which I need to pack a lunch, I stopped blogging shortly after I started. But I am determined to continue on. Just indulge me when I stop talking of food and post something about the wedding. :))

So here are a few pictures of such that happened while I was out. Not exactly exciting. I had some nicer lunches, but I forgot to take pictures.

 I tried to make egg-flowers with these little peppers I found. It worked all right, but I wasn't completely satified with the results. The pepper, egg, sugar snap pea flowers are served on top of herbed-buttered rice.

 Here is another shot of the same lunch. Grapes, pepper strips, a strawberry or two, with grilled chicken and snap peas.

Some of the boxes and snack containers I found. I bought them for me, but I reserve the right to claim that I bought them for my niece. :)  I used the Ariel box in the previous lunch.

I have to say, I packed this lunch for J. and he asked for almost everything in it (except the cutie orange) and I was like "Wow!" I would hate to eat this lunch. There are no colors  (i.e. no veggies...). Everything was pretty bland looking. There is apple sauce with cinnamon, a cutie orange, a butchered hard-boiled egg, some mozzarella bites, and a sandwich. I added this picture as proof that a well balanced, colorful lunch can be half the eating equation in pleasing your appetite.

Take care! I'll try and update everything and find some new posts.