Baked Ziti Casserole
This sounds really good and is on my to cook list. Do not get tied up in the type of pasta, Penne pasta is tubular with the ends cut at an angle, Ziti pasta is tubular with the ends cut squarely. When I make this, I am using Penne for sure because it is more common than Ziti. There is a chance to use 3 shortcuts in this recipe to reduce the cost considerably. Links to the shortcuts are listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 500 grams Italian sausage, this can be pork or chicken, OR use the shortcut on this site
- 2 cups Ziti pasta, OR just use Penne, it is the same
- 1 can tomato soup, 18 oz/510 grams, OR make from a shortcut on this site
- 1 cup Ricotta cheese, OR make Cottage Cheese from a shortcut on this site
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- 1 cup Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 egg
- fresh basil leaves, chopped, for garnish, if desired
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 190 C.
- Cook and drain pasta as directed on package. In 12-inch skillet, cook sausage over medium high heat, stirring occasionally, until no longer pink; drain. Add soup (if making the soup from the shortcut on the site, use 2 1/3 cups of soup), pepper, and cooked pasta, stir well.
- In a bowl mix the Ricotta (or Cottage cheese), Parmesan cheese, and egg.
- Pour the pasta mixture into a 9x13 glass baking dish (or a 7x11 dish if you have that), spoon the cheese mixture over the top, sprinkle the Mozzarella cheese over the top, cover with foil and bake 25-30 minutes, remove foil for the last 10 minutes to brown the cheese. Sprinkle with basil and serve.
Notes
The pork for the sausage would cost about 65 Baht for 500 grams, even less if using chicken. The cheese is minimal as not complete packages are used, for the Ricotta, do your self a favor and make the Cottage cheese yourself as you would save a lot there. For the soup, that would cost minimum 52 Baht if purchased canned, if you make yourself, the cost is 17 Baht.
Going with store bought prices, the cost is about $1 per person for 6 people. If you make the shortcuts, you can get this down to probably 60 cents per person.
Shortcuts: Italian Sausage, Tomato Soup, Cottage Cheese.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
Another “must-try” for me 🙂