I am going to share with you the one (and only!) thing I don't like about fall. Shorter days. We don't eat dinner until pretty late because the absolute earliest my husband gets home is 7ish. Tonight it was pretty dark at 7 so I didn't get any natural light for my picture. I am hoping to make a light box or invest in some lighting to alleviate this issue, but until that happens I apologize for the crummy picture (and potentially future crummy pictures).
Baked ziti is my fave. I just love it. So when I saw this recipe pop up on
Lauren's blog I got a little giddy. The main reason I was excited was because this recipe doesn't use ricotta. I love ricotta but the hubster doesn't. He deals- but I think he secretly groans when he sees me put ricotta into dishes. I was skeptical about the sour cream since I am so-so about it but it really was delicious. If you love baked ziti try this twist on the classic- you won't regret it!
Source: Adapted from Elizabeth's Cooking Experiments
Ingredients:
1/2 box of ziti
1/2 jar of sauce (or equivalent of homemade)
4 ounces of mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup of reduced fat sour cream
1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese
1/8 cup of parmesan cheese
Directions:
Cook pasta to al dente. Drain & set aside.
In a large bowl, combine mascarpone cheese, sour cream, and cooked pasta.
Layer the pasta, sauce and cheese in a large greased casserole dish as follows:
1/2 pasta
1/2 sauce
1/2 cheese
remaining pasta
remaining sauce
remaining cheese
Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and top with Parmesan cheese and bake for an additional 5 minutes.
Let sit for about 10 minutes before serving.
I've noticed that Giada uses mascarpone cheese in savory applications or in place of cream cheese or even ricotta. I love that you used it in baked ziti! I need to make a baked pasta dish soon and will try using mascarpone for a richer flavor!
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