Baked Ziti Casserole

Total Time: 1 hr 30 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 onion, diced
• 16 ounces cottage cheese
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 1/2 cups parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 16 ounces ziti pasta (i use dreamfields low carb)
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 5 medium garlic cloves, minced
• 28 ounces tomato sauce
• 14 1/2 ounces diced tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaf, chopped
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 dash ground black pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/4-inch pieces

Recipe

• 1 adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. whisk cottage cheese, eggs, and 1 cup parmesan together in medium bowl; set aside. bring 4 quarts of water to boil in large dutch oven over high heat. stir in 1 tablespoon salt and pasta; cook, stirring occasionally, until pasta begins to soften but is not yet cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes. drain pasta and leave in colander (do not wash dutch oven).
• 2 meanwhile, brown ground hamburger with diced onion, set aside. heat oil and garlic in 12-inch skillet over medium heat until garlic is fragrant but not brown, about 2 minutes. stir in tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, oregano; and browned hamburger, simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes. off heat, stir in ½ cup basil and sugar, then season with salt and pepper.
• 3 stir cornstarch into heavy cream in small bowl; transfer mixture to now-empty dutch oven set over medium heat. bring to simmer and cook until thickened, 3 to 4 minutes. remove pot from heat and add cottage cheese mixture, 1 cup of your tomato sauce mixture, and ¾ cup mozzarella, then stir to combine. add pasta and stir to coat thoroughly with sauce.
• 4 transfer pasta mixture to a prepared 13- by 9-inch baking dish and spread remaining tomato sauce evenly over pasta. sprinkle remaining ¾ cup mozzarella and remaining 1/2 cup parmesan over top. cover baking dish tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
• 5 remove foil and continue to cook until cheese is bubbling and beginning to brown, about 30 minutes longer.
• 6 note: if you don't have heavy cream, whole milk can be substituted by increasing the amount of cornstarch to 2 teaspoons and increasing the cooking time in step 3 by 1 to 2 minutes. avoid preshredded mozzarella cheese, as it does not melt well.