Baked Ziti Pizza

Friday has finally arrived and it's the last day to enter the pizza cookbook giveaway and the last day of pizzas (for now!) Today's pizza combines two great Italian dishes - pizza and baked ziti. Maybe you've seen this before, maybe you haven't but let me tell you, it's delicious. Baked Ziti pizza is like having your cake and eating it too. It's just delicious, the top of the pasta gets just a little crispy and burnt which is my favorite part.

I had a little leftover vodka sauce in the fridge so I used that in my baked ziti to change things up a bit. You can use regular tomato sauce, bechamel...really any kind of sauce you want to use.

And don't forget to enter the cookbook giveaway! I promise the lucky winner will love the book and have a whole new world of pizza opened up to them with the variety of pizzas inside! The winner will be announced this weekend, you have until tonight at midnight to become a fan on Facebook, leave a comment here or subscribe to my blog via email. Good luck everyone!

Baked Ziti Pizza
Yield: 1 pizza pie
Prep Time: 15 minutes     I     Cook Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 pizza dough (homemade or store bought)
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 1/2 pound ziti 
• 8 ounces grated cheese
• 1/4 cup ricotta

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees and put a pot of salted water on the stove over high heat to boil water for cooking the pasta in.

Next start to prepare your pizza shell. Grease whatever pan you plan to make your pizza in and place the dough inside. Use your fingertips to flatten and stretch out the dough so its covering your entire pan. Sprinkle a little cheese on top and pop it in the oven.

What you're aiming to do here is cook the dough slightly so it wont shrink on you later on when you add the baked ziti. The will allow for the dough to cook fully without over cooking or dry out the pasta. Keep a close eye on the shell while it's cooking, if it starts to shrink you can take it out and stretch it some more.

The shell is done when it no longer looks raw, just very under cooked. It should take about 5 minutes.

While the shell is in the oven heat up whatever sauce you are going to use in a small saucepan over medium heat. 

When the pasta is done stir in the sauce and ricotta and half of the cheese. Spoon the pasta over the pizza shell evenly and top with the remaining cheese. Put the pizza in the oven and cook for 8-10 minutes until the dough is fully cooked and the tips of the pasta are slightly crisped.

I like to sprinkle a little grated cheese on top right before serving.