My first baked ziti

[pseydtonne]

One coworker came screaming to my desk about what would I make for the pot luck. I thought to myself, "why have I been afraid to make something besides beef Bourgognon?" Someone else was going to make a beef stew, so I decided to take it to the vegetarian realm while focusing on my roots.

So yeah, I've just baked my first two pans of ziti. I have no idea whether they'll be good. Making that much sauce that fast and still running out reminded me how long it had been since I'd made a red sauce. It tasted way too much like a pizza sauce, less so the second round but it still didn't make me feel like I'd done a great job.

They look yummy. They look like an entire tub of whole milk ricotta and a jar of shredded Parmesan. They make not be crusty enough. They still look fine and I hope no one dislikes them. They took two hours of solid work, not to mention the shopping and the second trip to the store for a can opener.

Now that I've made them, I've thought about how I'd like to improve. I want to readdress how I make a red sauce -- it tasts too much like kiddy sauce. It doesn't taste like gramma's enough.

I am exhausted. Thank heavens I'm not trying to make the bagniorole (the big mound of meatballs).

All that food makes me want to run away from tomatoes.

Comments

[hakamadare.livejournal.com]

heh, all that food makes me want to break into your house. :)

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

One trick for red sauce is to sautee the onions and garlic first with some salt and some spices (which will make your house/apartment smell wonderful, btw), then about halfway through add the veggies/meat if you're adding such things (adding a few more spices) and cook them until they're done. Then you add the tomatoes (I usually use a mixture of crushed and diced, with more crushed than diced) and some more spices, then simmer for a little while. Note: you don't add full quantities of spices at each interval, you add them in small packets so by the end you'll have the right amount. Suggested spices: bay leaves (1-2 overall is sufficient; remember that they're not edible and should be removed when you're done with cooking), basil, oregano (but not too much; this is why it tasted so much like pizza sauce, I suspect), parsley (if you use fresh, which is prefered, add it right near the end of cooking), black pepper, and most importantly, salt (remember, none of the ingredients have salt; if you taste test and your impression is "it doesn't taste like I've done enough spicin in genera;", rather than a single bit being missing, try adding some salt before adding more spices - salt brings out flavor).

Um. You probably knew large portions of that already. But you got me to thinking about red sauce too ;P.