Baked Ziti with Meatballs 2-13-11

Tonight's dinner was baked ziti and meatballs.

A couple of pounds of hamburger along with 8 links of Italian sausage. To this I added seasonings, BSS and Italian seasoning, panko, one egg, and freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

 Then made some small meatballs by hand and browned them in EVOO (I know this is a Rachel Ray thing and it annoys me, but it is easy to type instead of extra virgin olive oil).

Don't crowd the pan (TYFN)

Get them GB&D on both sides

Cook the meatballs in batches, turning them so they brown on all sides. Remove from the pan and set them aside.

One chopped onion sweated in the pan with S&P.

2 cans chopped tomatoes, one can tomato sauce, 1 cup of chicken broth, more seasonings, pinch of sugar, grated cheese,  and a pat of unsalted butter. Simmer for a bit, check the seasonings, and then...

Dump in the meatballs and overflow the pan onto the stove. (Nice move klutz). Once the ziti has cooked in salted boiling water for 11 minutes, combine everything and toss throughly.

 Place in two sprayed pans. Fill halfway then apply grated mozzarella cheese over the top. place the remaining pasta in the pans then top with more mozzarella. I was in a hurry but I would normally do 350 for an hour but today I did 425 for 40 minutes, cooking the garlic bread on homemade bread at the same time.

Food is done, now for some hungry people to eat it.

Here is some prime candidates.

This is Bubba's fourth helping of meatballs.

After cake he wanted another meatball. I think it was a hit.