Surprising Baked Ziti - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1/2 lb ziti pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced
6 minced garlic cloves
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 cups crushed tomatoes (for this recipe i use cento tomatoes)
1/4 teaspoon salt
bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon fresh black pepper
1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup store bought pesto sauce

Preparation

preheat oven to 350.
oil an 8x8 baking dish.
cook pasta in salted water for 7 min, drain, and tinse.
heat 1 1/2 tbsp of the oil in a pan over med- low heat.
cook onion until it becomes translucent.
add garlic and cook it for 30 sec.
add tomato, salt, and bay leaf.
raise heat to medium.
simmer mixture for 10 min or until it gets very thick.
remove the bay leaf and stir in 1/4 tsp pepper.
in a bowl, combine the pesto, half the parmesan, the ricotta, 1 cup of the mozzarella, and the remaining black pepper.
put 1/2 of the pasta in the baking dish.
top with 1/3 of the sauce.
spread entire cheese mixture evenly over the sauce.
cover with the remaining pasta, sauce, and cheese.
drizzle 1/2 tbsp olive oil over the top layer of cheese.
bake until bubbling (about 30 min).
let stand at least 10 minutes before cutting.