This week, Jes and I had the pleasure of having our little sister, Lexi, come to our houses to babysit the boys. Their Daycare lady was going to Disney (well needed break) and Lexi was just ending her J term at college. Fate?
Our mom is always talking about how wonderful Lexi's Baked Penne (Baked Ziti) is. After a little bit of guilting her and pulling on her heart strings, she agreed to cook it for me. This is huge, because Lexi really just doesn't enjoy cooking. Blasphemy.
I was happy to get this recipe from her and will use it again. I think it might take over as my basic pasta standby instead of goulash. This is an amazingly easy recipe. It is one that you don't need a card, you will remember it in your head. It can also be changed a million different ways and turn out just fine! Here is what Lexi did.
We assembled our ingredients:
1 Pound Penne pasta
2 Jars Pasta Sauce, we used Prego Traditional
16 Ounces Sour Cream
1 Pound Hamburger
1 Onion
1 clove garlic
2 Cups Mozzarella Cheese, Shredded
1 Package sliced Mozzarella Cheese
(the sliced cheese makes the sour cream easier to spread and makes it oh so ooey gooey)
Grated Parmesan Cheese on top
Preheat oven to 350. You will want to put this in a 9 x13 pan, it makes a lot.
Add salt to a large pot of water and cook pasta according to directions or al dente.
Chop the onion
Mince the garlic
Add them both to 1 Pound of Hamburger
Cook up the hamburger mixture, draining the fat if needed.
Add the pasta sauce. Hope you started with a big enough pan!
At some point your noodles are going to be done. Go ahead and strain them, set them aside until you are ready to assemble!
Butter the pan. I suppose you could use Pam or a non stick spray, but really, we like butter!
Look at us, all ready to layer
Put in the first layer of pasta, about 1/2 or a little bit more than 1/2. Lexi kept reminding me that this is not a science!
Next goes the sliced mozzarella cheese.
1/2 of the sour cream. This is where we are really glad we used the sliced stuff. You of course can use grated, but you will spend longer than necessary spreading out the sour cream.
Sprinkle 1 Cup of the shredded Mozzarella cheese on the top
Spoon 1/2 of the pasta sauce over the top and repeat.
Sprinkle the top with parmesan cheese. I really think this is more for the look thank anything.
Pop it in the oven. 350 for 30 minutes. Lexi says that it doesn't really have to go in that long, everything is cooked and all you are looking for is the cheese to melt. However, in our family, we crave those crunchy edges. 30 minutes was just right.
What did I tell you, ooey gooey.
Saucy, cheesy, full of flavor.
All is said and done, and it is time for Auntie Lex to get back to college.
We shipped her off with half of the pasta, she said her roommates will be excited.
Henry sure will miss his Auntie!
Embarrassing side note for Lexi, she originally made this pasta dish for a boy!
Here is a little video from behind the scenes. In the middle, Lexi will actually explain how to make baked penne.
