Skillet Baked Ziti

Chapter 3: Easy Skillet Suppers - Page 38
Time: 30 minutes
Cost: ~$5 for 4 servings

Drew's Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.
Really good, but it wasn’t amazing. Good solid dinner.

Sara's Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.
I love ziti, and I loved this. But really, nothing extraordinary. Easy and cheap for a weeknight meal.

Sorry it’s been a while since the last entry. This dish was done a week ago, but I’ve been battling a cold all week and didn’t feel up to writing until tonight.

First off, I must start by saying that I love baked ziti. Like, love love it. Probably my favorite single entrée in the world. But I was intrigued by the idea of a skillet baked ziti. I’d only ever eaten the typical ziti casserole in a 9x13 glass baking dish. This sounded faster and easier, so I was eager to get started. After cooking this, I can confidently say it is the first, and not so much the second. 30 minutes from start to finish makes this faster than the 45 minutes to 1 hour traditional baked ziti. However, it’s not a pop in the oven and walk away recipe, so it takes more active cooking time.

Basically, you sauté your garlic and red pepper to make that yummy start to the sauce, then dump in the ziti with a can of crushed tomatoes along with some extra water to cook in. Super super simple. You do need a 12-inch skillet with a lid, something Drew and I are lacking. We generally use our ginormous wok lid to cover, since all other lids are too small. This doesn’t exactly make the tight seal many recipes call for. We lucked out this time, and the sauce actually reduced the way it’s supposed to, resulting in rich tomato-y goodness for the ziti. I stirred in cream, some fresh basil from our garden, and topped the whole thing with more mozzarella than the recipe called for. I mean, who doesn’t like extra cheese? Pop the whole skillet in the oven for 10 minutes until the cheese browns and you’re all set.

The whole thing was melty and tomato-y and fantastic. So why not a 5 star recipe? Well, I loved it… but I always love baked ziti. It’s really kind of hard to make poorly, and I’d have been shocked if an ATK recipe for baked ziti came out lousy. It didn’t have a “wow” factor, or some kind of cool twist that I like to see on classic recipes. We made a regular baked ziti from ATK once, and that was special. I think it’s in the book somewhere, so you’ll see it eventually, but it has some surprise ingredients that make the whole dish unique.

Final verdict, if you like cheesy pasta dishes, you will love this. It’s fast and convenient and cheap (you can even use pre-shredded mozzarella instead of fresh… a first in my experience with ATK recipes!) Having the parents over for a fancy dinner? Not so much.