Modified Neely's Baked Ziti

Description:
I've always wanted to find a good baked ziti recipe, not the sbarro type but more of the italiannis' type. When I saw the Neely episode with this recipe, I thought it looked good. While tasting the cooking red sauce, to my surprise, it sort of tasted like italiannis. Almost but not quite, especially when the pesto was added. So while I am still on the lookout for THAT recipe, here's my modified Neely's baked ziti recipe. If you look up the original recipe, they mixed in a bag of spinach with the cheeses and used ricotta to bind this mix. I really didn't care for that after trying this the first time. Another thing, they used hot turkey sausage instead of italian sausage.

Ingredients:
1 lb ziti
2 lbs hot italian sausage, skin off (about 4-5 pcs), if you want it chunky, you can also use 2 lbs ground hot italian sausage if you want a smoother sauce
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 28-oz can of crushed tomatoes
3 oz pesto (about 3 tbs)
6 oz ricotta cheese
6 oz cream cheese, softened
1-1/2 cups shredded mozzarella, save 1 cup for topping
1 cup grated parmesan, save 1/2 cup for topping
salt and pepper for seasoning
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup chopped italian parsley
butter to brush on the baking dish



Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 deg F.
2. Bring a pot of water to a boil, add some salt, and cook ziti until al dente (do not overcook as this will still cook when you bake the dish). Drain and set aside.
3. In a large skillet, saute the sausage under medium heat (no oil!) then add the garlic and onions. Saute together, break up the sausage with a wooden spoon, until the sausage is cooked through and browned.
4. Add the crushed tomatoes and pesto. Season with salt and pepper, add bay leaf, and dry oregano. Mix and simmer for about 10 minutes.
5. Butter a baking dish and place the cooked ziti on the bottom.
6. Add the parsley to the cooked sauce, fish out the bay leaf, and pour on top of the ziti.
7. Mix the ricotta, cream cheese, 1/2 cup mozzarella, and 1/2 cup parmesan. Add some black pepper. Spread this mixture on top of the sauce.
8. Sprinkle the parmesan on top then the mozzarella.
9. Bake until heated through and top is brown and crispy, about 20-30 min. (place the baking dish on the 3rd rack down in the oven to avoid browning the cheese too soon).