Rachael Ray

I am huge Rachael Ray fan..sure, she can be annoying to watch at times. I won't argue with you there. But her food is DELICIOUS! So I am the proud owner of 4 of her cookbooks which I don't use as often as I'd like to, but I'm working on it. I always go back to her pasta dishes, because a) they're so good, and b) as you'll soon discover Lee and I eat a LOT of pasta..we love it! The past few weeks I've tried two..I'm gonna give you the recipe to one today and my thoughts on any changes you might want to make as well. These are NOT my original recipes. Not trying to plagiarize (thank you to my 11th grade English teacher, Mrs. Madison)!

ELSA'S BAKED ZITI

• Salt
• 1 lb ziti
• 2 cups ricotta cheese
• Grill seasoning, like McCormick's Montreal
  seasoning
• A couple handfuls of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 1 tbsp EVOO
• 1 to 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• Crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 cup crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce
• A few fresh basil leaves

Ok here's where I'm just gonna tell you what I
did, its a lot simpler than the recipe makes it sound. First, preheat the
oven to 375. Put a big pot of water onto boil for the pasta. Once it starts
boiling, add pasta and follow directions on the box.

While you're waiting, grab a medium size mixing
bowl. Mix the ricotta (get whole milk ricotta, trust me!) (and I just used the
entire 15 oz container), some grill seasoning, and a couple handfuls of Parmesan (its hard to find
the exact cheese it calls for, but just regular parm works great). Its hard to
say how much grill seasoning, I just put a few dashes, but you might want more.
It sounds like a really weird flavor combination but it is DELICIOUS!

Ok now get a small
skillet, heat some olive oil on medium. Once its hot, put your cloves
of garlic in with a couple pinches of crushed red pepper. Cook that for a minute
or two on medium heat. Then add your crushed tomatoes, I actually used about 3/4
of a 28 oz can. Tear up a few basil leaves and add in the tomato mixture.
Reduce the heat to low.

Once the pasta is
done, drain well and mix with the cheese mixture. Put it in a 9 x 13 casserole
dish. Pour the tomato mixture over the top of the pasta and throw a couple of
handfuls of the parm on top. Pop in the oven for about 10 minutes or until
the cheese browns.

This recipe was GREAT because it was so fast. It was easy, and I did all the other steps while I cooked the pasta. It made enough for probably 4-6 people, depending on the people :) The grill seasoning really surprised me, I didn't think I'd like it. For those of you who get heartburn, I liked this because I got that tomato flavor without being as acidic as something like spaghetti.

Now, don't do what I did when I got my leftovers out for lunch the next day. I got my first bowl, thought I'd leave it out and go back for another bowl. Instead, I put my bowl in the sink, and left the house for six hours. Half of my ziti, RUINED! :( Oh well..it is what it is. At least we got dinner and lunch for two out of it. .Now that I think about it we would have gotten 8 meals out of it!

PLEASE let me know how you like it if you decide to try it! Happy cooking!

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