BAKED ZITI: Ziti al Telefono

I had no plans of cooking for dinner but I have a hungry family tonight! My weekend easy fix used to be the ever trusted  MAC AND CHEESE, but tonight I relied on my Batali book for another easy fix.

I was planning on packing for my trip but I was too tired so I let myself go (again) and with Dorito's and Kisses in my hands, I watched the DVD - "17 Again"   - Yup my hubby told me in the past, that for someone who loves good cheese and belgian chocolates so much- -I always pick a bag of  Dorito's  (he means - - -crap). Oh well, hello America!

Thanks to "the" Batali,I learned how to make Besciamella today (page 65). I didn't realize how simple and easy the steps are. Well, I am sure some of you may know this by heart, but for clueless wanna be chef like me , it's like making a roux. I simply melted 5 tbsp butter, added 1/4 cup flour until it's golden brown, added 3 cups milk, salt and nutmeg. Stir, stir and more stirring ..and Voila - -  belinda's besciamella . Very nice Batali!

I am still full from my gourmet Dorito feast earlier - - so I only took a small bite  enough to be say that compared to our Mac and Cheese that is oooooozzing with cheddar-y goodness - this baked ziti gives you a light feeling without the guilt that you felt you ate 500 lbs of cheese in one sitting.

Mario Batali's version: Page 170

 

Maria Belinda's version:

I lessened the amount on tomato sauce and besciamella as I don't want it to be gooey. Mario baked this pasta for additional 20 minutes as he let the sauce make a bubbling effect to fully cook the pasta. Since I cooked the pasta only a minute short (versus Mario's 2 minutes), I only used 8-10 minutes baking time enough for the bread crumbs to be crusty on top. Despite this action, the pasta came out moist  - -so all good.

1 lb ziti (cook 1 minutes less than instruction indicated in the box. Why? we're going to baked this for another 10 minutes and we don't want it soggy)
1cup tomato sauce
2cups besciamella
 1 cup shredded mozzarella
2 tbsp parmigiano -reggiano
 bread crumbs (store bought)

 

HERE'S HOW:

Comments

[MBT Sandals]

I love Mario Batali. Great concept for a blog. i love it. your food looks terrific.