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Ninth Avenue Childhood Baked Ziti

Source of Recipe

From "Cook With Me" by Alex Guarnaschelli


Recipe Introduction

"Except for lasagna, my mom didn't make many baked pasta dishes when I was growing up. The first time I ever had—and fell in love with—baked ziti was in a tiny overly air-conditioned restaurant on Ninth Avenue in New York City. It was a true red-sauce joint, and I remember being cold from the air conditioning and very hungry. The dish arrived at my table boiling hot, bubbling volcanically. I was hooked. It was like an instant fireplace and dinner at the same time. The broiled molten cheesy topping, the unabashed use of garlic, the pasta edges that have crunch like they were fried yet somehow are still al dente inside...I always like to eat the edges first, don't you?"

List of Ingredients

â—¦ ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
â—¦ 2 medium yellow onions, minced
â—¦ 10 large cloves garlic, minced
â—¦ Kosher salt
â—¦ 1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
â—¦ 2 (28-ounce) cans peeled whole tomatoes, with their juices
â—¦ 1 tablespoon sugar
â—¦ 2 teaspoons dried oregano
â—¦ 1 pound ziti pasta
â—¦ 1 cup tightly packed fresh basil leaves
â—¦ 1 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded
â—¦ 2 to 2 ½ cups finely grated Parmesan cheese (about 8 ounces)


Recipe

Make the sauce: Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic, and season with salt and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring from time to time, until the onions become translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and their juices, the sugar, and the oregano, and stir to blend. Cook, stirring, occasionally, until the aroma of the tomatoes deepens and the raw garlic mellows, 18 to 20 minutes. Taste for seasoning. Set aside.

Cook the pasta: Fill a large pot with 4 quarts of water and bring it to a rolling boil. Add ¼ cup salt and return the water to a boil. Taste the water. It should be salty like seawater. Add the ziti and stir with a large slotted spoon to ensure that the pasta does not clump or stick to the pot as it cooks. Cook until the ziti is still quite firm, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain.

Preheat the oven to 375° F. Set an oven rack in the upper-middle position.

Add the ziti to the sauce and stir gently to combine. Allow the mixture to rest on the stove so the pasta can absorb the flavors from the sauce, 5 to 10 minutes. Then stir in the basil. Taste for seasoning.

Bake and serve: Fill a 10-by-15-inch baking dish with half of the ziti and sauce, and sprinkle half of the mozzarella and half of the Parmesan over the mixture. Top with all of the remaining pasta and sauce and the remaining cheese. Center the dish on a sheet pan and place it on the upper-middle rack of the oven. Bake until the top browns, 15 to 18 minutes. Switch the oven to broil, and broil the ziti until the cheese is golden brown and bubbling, 2 to 3 minutes. Serve immediately.

Serves 6 to 8