Ziti!

Recipe time!

I was going through some favourite blogs of mine and came across this recipe on one blog! As much as i'm a fussy meat eater and very select at times, I often chose vegetarian dishes which has caused people to assume i'm a vegatarian. I just happen to find i prefer the taste combinations a lot of resturants and venues provide. I find theres a lot of flavours and balances vegetarian dishes have and why this recipe appealed to me was the combination of pasta, cheese and layered veg which i knew could taste awesome if the flavours were balanced well!

here you can see the original recipe of inspiration - yummy isnt it? Full credit to http://www.sometimessweet.com/  !

recipe-veggie-baked-ziti.html

yummy isnt it?

word of note I dont have exact measurements for ingrediants, just use what you think is enough. If you like more of one thing and less of another then alter it to your taste! Its a great dish to use up veggies you have lurking in the fridge!

One jar of tomato pasta sauce/chopped tomatoes - (I've used one with chilli in the sauce for a little kick!)

A good handful of pasta per person (let the vegs do the talking in this dish!)

One pepper

One red onion

Small Broccoli

Courgette

 A tub of cottage cheese - the above recipe at sometimesweet calls for ricotta but here in the uk its a little hard to find and expensive.

Your favourite cheese to top the finished dish!

If you're using corgette, slice it first into slices then cover each slice in a thin layer of salt as corgette holds water and when cooking, will release this into the dish turning everything in slush. Salt draws it out. Leave this for 10-15 minutes, when you come back you will see water, simple shake off the water and salt and chop as normal.

If you're using mozzarella, make sure you drain and dry the cheese well.

Chop all veg to small pieces similar in size to each other. This helps everything cook at the same time as each other .

Cook up your pasta, trying to get it to the al dente stage. (al dente is when the pasta is only just soft, pinching a piece of pasta will reveal it is soft yet firm and doesnt break easily.) You dont want to over-cook your pasta before putting it into the dish as the pasta will break down into pasta mush and make everything taste like wallpaper paste!

With the pasta cooked and everything to hand, begin layering the dish with some cottage cheese, vegetables and pour over a little of the sauce then top with pasta and so on...

Like a lasagne, you build up the layers, making sure you push down the layers every so often to pack everything in.

You can add grated cheese if you like through the layers. Play around with the contents to your taste!

Once finished, top the dish with cheese, I use mozzarella for that gooeyness!

 Cook for 20 or so minutes until the cheese has melted and turned into a golden, gooey layer on top and its piping hot throughout the dish! (I used a fan oven at 180. If you're not sure, just put it in at the temp setting you're familiar with and check after 15 minutes.)

Enjoy!

This is a great dish to use pretty much any veg, just bare in mind if you use a hard root veg (like carrots), then its best to cook it up until its soft before adding to the Ziti as it takes longer to cook than many other vegetables.

This is also an open-to-suit-your-needs dish - if you like cheese then add more cheese! Sauce person? go ahead pour more in! Only like green veggies? Throw them all in!

And finally it's a great recession dish - it doesnt cost a lot to make. It uses pretty much what you have in the fridge and cupboard. If your budget is low, use a cheap cheese spread tub for that gooey soft cheese layers in the Ziti, its a great dish to use up those little bits of odd cheeses we have in the fridge that gone hard.

Its a very easy dish to make so give it a whirl!

Let me know how you eat yours!

Birdie love.

xxx