Anna's Loaded Baked Ziti

My mom, Anna made the besr baked ziti. She loaded it up with baby meatballs. I cheat by slicing regular size meatballs.

Ingredients:

Marinara Sauce, get recipe from my blog menu

16 oz shredded mozzarella

1/2 cup grated pecorino romano cheese (I use Locatelli)

1- 16 oz box of ziti, rigatoni, or penne, cooked al dente in salted water and drained well

4-6 cooked meatballs (sliced) or 20 mini cooked meatballs

Use 13 x 9 baking dish or pan. Layer the bottom of pan with marinara sauce. Add 2 cups cooked pasta. Ladle with marinara sauce. Add 2-3 sliced meatballs to pasta. Add grated cheese, and a layer of shredded mozarella. Repeat the layers, making sure you're using plenty of marinara sauce covering ever pasta piece. The top layer should have the marinara sauce and then the grated cheese.

Bake at 375 degrees in oven on the middle rack. Place prepared pan on a cookie sheet to catch any overflow of sauce.

Let bake for approximately 45 minutes. Broil for 5 minutes, watching it very closely, avoiding a completely covered burned surface.

Allow to sit before enjoying. The longer it sits, the better it is to keep from falling apart.

Enjoy with a glass of cabernet!

Let's get baking!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

1 whole thin skinned orange, remove the stem and cut in quarters. Keep the skin on the oranges.

In a clean large food processor, add the orange quarters, 1 1/4 cups of sugar, three large eggs, 1 tsp of vanilla, 1 tsp of orange extract, 1 tbsp of Triple Sec liqueur, optional, 2/3 cup vegetable oil.

Pulse all ingredients in the processor and then puree until mixture becomes a batter with specs of orange peel.

Add to the processor:

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Process all dry ingredients until they are entirely incorporated into the batter.

Bake in a greased and floured spring pan, using a parchment paper circle on top of the greased bottom.*

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place in the center rack of the oven. Bake for 30-40 minutes, depending on your oven.

Remove from your oven and let it cool down completely. Dust with powdered sugar or make a drizzle of 1/4 cup powdered sugar and fresh squeezed orange until thick and smooth. Pour onto the cooled fresh orange cake.

Cooking with Love

with Gianna Conte (Jan)