Am I the only middle aged mother who didn’t know “ziti” is just red/meat sauce and ricotta?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have GERD so I sometimes make the sauce less acidic by adding other veggies to the blend (carrots, peppers, sometimes squash). I love the taste of red sauces but my esophagus, not so much (sadly, it's genetic, I got my first flare up at 14).

Peppers even sweet ones sre bad for GERD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ziti is the shape of the pasta.

I understood her post to mean the dish called Baked Ziti.

Same.

And I’ve never had baked ziti up until a year ago, and it was really good! My friend served it at dinner and I thought it was delicious. I should make it for my own kids who also loved it. I like the idea of adding spinach to it.

I have used Ziti many many times.

[Anonymous]

I loved it when I was a kid - it was a very common dish in northern NJ where I'm from, whether your family was Italian or not. I think it was even served in the school cafeteria!

I cook and drain the ziti noodles, and in a separate bowl add half a jar of red sauce, a tub of ricotta cheese, some garlic powder, onion powder, dried oregano, an egg, and a pack of shredded mozz cheee. Stir in the hot noodles, and spread the mixture into a pan. Top with the rest of the sauce and some more shredded mozz cheese and parm. Bake for about 25 min at 350.

Adding the egg makes it hold together more, versus being loose ingredients stirred into each other.

[Anonymous]

I am here to push back on the notion that a proper lasagna has ricotta in it. Lasagna should be made with Bechamel, not ricotta. Yes, I know some people make it with ricotta, even some Italians, but that is an inferior product.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am here to push back on the notion that a proper lasagna has ricotta in it. Lasagna should be made with Bechamel, not ricotta. Yes, I know some people make it with ricotta, even some Italians, but that is an inferior product.

I also prefer bechamel but I also realize that ricotta is an acceptable regional variation and therefore also “proper.” Each town in Italy has a different way of doing things. There are American towns that were heavily populated by people from one or two towns so often times American variations are derived from regional variations. I have a regional book of Italian recipes and one of my. Retirement goals is just to work my way through it, for the heck of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So maybe even a lesser known fact, but it is a very popular dish for people in PA to take to picnics. It is definitely a favorite of my kids. They like oregano added to it and definitely mozzarella on top.

Grew up in western Pa. Every picnic, wedding, and funeral has baked ziti

[Anonymous]

You don't need to use ziti noodles. I make thin spaghetti with meat (or meatballs) for the family and my husband and children prefer it with ricotta mixed in. You can also add a splash of cream.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My baked ziti has a layer of provolone topped with sour cream, no ricotta, and I promise it's delicious

Baked Ziti Recipe https://share.google/xcxiXy2OHmb0MXaXZ

I promise you that is not baked ziti. Source: Lived in Italy many years.

Ah yes baked ziti, the famously authentic Italian dish.

I'm not PP, but seriously, when you're making food for yourself, eat what works for you. It's your food.

Right? Lol

It may not be authentically Italian, but it IS an authentic Italian-American dish. This type of red-sauce type of food is what generations of Italian immigrant descendants have been raised on. It is almost like a regional Italian cuisine, shaped by ingredients that were readily available.

Correct. Italian American is a cuisine separate from Italian cuisine. I love both cuisines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s hilarious that everyone is so surprised how easy it is to actually cook after they watch a Youtubr or TikTok video of someone telling them how to make it. If you can read you can probably make a most of the dishes you eat in restaurants. The recipes are all online - with multiple methods, substitutions, additions, and comments of 500 people who tried it and can tell you what works and dues not.

And even before the internet the Ziti recipe has been on the box of pasta!!

Yes. My teenage daughter just recently discovered how incredibly overpriced something like pasta with a simple sauce at a restaurant is -- how cheap it is to make at home and how easy. I love Italian food but it's hard a bit hard to eat out at a lot of Italian places because I know I can make the same things more cheaply, better, and quickly at home. So I eliminate half the menu that way. I sort of hate making home-made ravioli, though, so that's an always a good one to eat out. And eggplant parm is another one that's just such a pain to make at home.

The Michael Angelos frozen eggplant parmesan is better than most restaurants-my family loves it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am here to push back on the notion that a proper lasagna has ricotta in it. Lasagna should be made with Bechamel, not ricotta. Yes, I know some people make it with ricotta, even some Italians, but that is an inferior product.

I also prefer bechamel but I also realize that ricotta is an acceptable regional variation and therefore also “proper.” Each town in Italy has a different way of doing things. There are American towns that were heavily populated by people from one or two towns so often times American variations are derived from regional variations. I have a regional book of Italian recipes and one of my. Retirement goals is just to work my way through it, for the heck of it.

I agree with this, but regardless the OP asked about baked ziti not lasagna.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ziti is the shape of the pasta.

This.

The dish OP describes is one my family only ate when we got soup kitchen meals growing up. It was part of the weekly rotation at the soup kitchen near our home. That and slices of Wonder Bread toasted and swiped with garlic butter. I was grateful to have a hot meal, but have no fondness for that particular baked pasta dish.

You can make it with most pasta shapes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ziti is the shape of the pasta.

This.

The dish OP describes is one my family only ate when we got soup kitchen meals growing up. It was part of the weekly rotation at the soup kitchen near our home. That and slices of Wonder Bread toasted and swiped with garlic butter. I was grateful to have a hot meal, but have no fondness for that particular baked pasta dish.

You can make it with most pasta shapes.

Yeah…it reminds me of a MealTrain meal some mom drops off to another mom that just has a baby but she herself is actually too tired and worn out to cook another dinner- que dumping sauce, noodles and ground beef and cheese into casserole dish and calling it good.

[Anonymous]

I used to have a friend named “Zita”. My old boss used to mispronounce “baked ziti” by calling it “baked zita”. It used to crack me up because all I could think about was my friend, Zita, lying under a bed of meat sauce, ricotta, and mozzarella. Lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We called it "mostaccioli" growing up. All the midwest Italian families served it at the Catholic church suppers, weddings, and funerals.

Yes, every Midwest party had baked mostaccioli in the 80s/90s. Maybe still - I don’t live there anymore.

I grew up in the Midwest and never heard of mostaccioli until I moved to Chicago. Its not a thing everywhere in the Midwest.

It is in the actual midwest (Chicago though St. Louis)

Maybe not in the northern plains and north central states like Wisconsin and Michigan.

But it is definitely called that in the actual midwest.

[Anonymous]

I make it for a crowd in an aluminum pan, so that when it’s gone (quickly), I can just throw that sucker away.