Cheese stuffed ziti

Tomato based pasta casseroles are usually very boring to me. You could blame it on the simple fact that I don't love most tomato based pasta dishes, or, you can just assume that they really are all most boring and over done.

I was inspired by eggplant rollatini when making this recipe. My dad always hid eggplant in rice dressing and I remember his rice dressing being the best ever. If I was going to add eggplant, why not add in the best element of eggplant rollatini? The ricotta mixture of course.

Had my kitchen been better stocked I would have added lots of Italian seasoning, cracked red pepper, Worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar, and parsley into the meat sauce, but all I had was a bottle of Dale's, so I tossed in some of that.


1 onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 eggplant, peeled and chopped into 1/2 in chunks
1 jar of spaghetti sauce
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 can of tomato sauce
1 package of Italian sausage, removed from casing
1/2 lb ground beef
1 16 oz container of ricotta cheese
1 cup of parmesan cheese
1 egg
2-3 cups of mozzarella cheese
4 table spoons Dale's steak marinade

1) Prepare ziti just shy of al-dente in heavily salted water. Also preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

2) Saute onion and garlic until soft being careful not to brown it. Add in eggplant and cook until the eggplant is soft. It will reduce in size and almost completely disappear. Once done, scoot the vegetable mixture to one side of the plan and add sausage and beef to brown on the other side.

3) Dump in the spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. Add in Dale's marinade. Simmer for anywhere between 20 minutes and 2 hours.

4) In a small bowl, mix together ricotta, parmesan, and egg. Season with salt and pepper (and, ideally, flat leaf parsley).

5) In a very large bowl mix the meat sauce with the cooked pasta and toss. Layer half the pasta mixture into the bottom of a casserole dish. Pour the ricotta over top and spread thin. Add the rest of the pasta mixture and top with mozzarella (and more parmesan if you have it).