Baked ziti casserole
Easy baked ziti casserole with a Greek twist, full of cheese and a hearty meat sauce!
- Prep time
- 50 min
- Cook time
- 25 min
- Yield
- 8 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 1 pound ziti pasta
- 1 tsp salt
- 250 grams (9 oz, or 1/2 lb) ground veal
- 250 grams (9oz, or 1/2 lb) ground pork
- 1 cup onion (diced)
- 2 tbsp ( 30 mL) olive oil
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 3 garlic cloves (finely diced)
- 1½ cups zucchini (cut in cubes (about the size of dice))
- 5 cups (1,250 mL) passata
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 245 grams ricotta cheese (8 ounces)
- 100 grams Greek feta
- 5 fresh basil leaves (thinly sliced)
- 375 grams mozarella cheese (divided)
- 1 cup grated mizithra cheese (divided; can substitute with grated parmesan or grated romano cheese)
Instructions
- 1
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook your ziti until it is almost done. Simply cutting a minute or two off of the cooking instructions on the package is sufficient. Once ready, drain and set aside.
- 2
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- 3
For the meat sauce
- 4
In a large pot or Dutch oven set over medium high heat cook your meat and onion until the meat is completely cooked through and the onion is softened. Be sure to break the meat apart with a wooden spoon as it is cooking.
- 5
Move your meat and onions to the sides of your pot (so that you have an empty space in the center) and to the center add the olive oil, bay leaf and tomato paste. Stir the tomato paste continuously and cook for 1 minute. After the 1 minute, mix everything together.
- 6
Add the garlic and zucchini and cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring regularly.
- 7
Add the passata (or tomato sauce or marinara sauce) and the salt and pepper. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and discard.
- 8
To assemble casserole
- 9
Take 1 ladle full of sauce and spread it across the bottom of your 9 x 13 inch casserole dish.
- 10
Add the crumbled feta to the rest of the meat sauce and spoon in the ricotta. Add the finely sliced basil leaves. Add cooked pasta and stir gently. You want all the ziti to be coated but you still want to have chunks of feta and ricotta visible.
- 11
Transfer half of the pasta mixture to your casserole dish. Top the pasta with half of the shredded mozzarella and half of the grated mizithra (or grated parmesan or grated romano).
- 12
Add the rest of the pasta mixture to the casserole dish and top with the remaining mozzarella and the remaining grated mizithra.
- 13
Bake, uncovered, in the middle rack of your oven for about 25 minutes. If you would like, broil for approximately 2 minutes so that the top layer of cheese gets nice and browned (careful you don't burn it!).
- 14
Let cool for at least 5 minutes before serving.
- 15
Enjoy!