Authentic Baked Ziti - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 lb ziti pasta
1 lb fresh mozzarella cheese
3/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
salt
pepper
crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 lb sweet Italian sausage
1/2 lb hot Italian sausage
1/2 medium onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
28 ounces whole peeled san marzano tomatoes
6 ounces marzano tomato paste
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 sprig fresh basil

Preparation

SAUCE.
Remove the sausage casings and crumble the sausage.
Add 2 teaspoons of olive oil to a pan, and brown the sausage.
Puree the tomatoes in a blender (not too much).
Add onions and garlic to now-browned sausage. Cook for a few more minutes until transparent.
Add your tomato puree to the sausage.
Add thyme and basil to sauce.
Add some salt and pepper to taste.
Add a generous pinch of the pepper flakes.
Stir this up, heat to near-boil, then let it simmer covered on low for 15 minutes.
BUILDING THE DISH.
Boil your ziti pasta to not quite al-dente. Don't overboil, pasta will soften while baking.
Cut the mozarella, half of it into 1/2 inch cubes, the other half in as thin of slices as you can manage.
Remove the herb sprigs from the sauce and discard.
Add the can of tomato paste to your sauce to thicken it up and give it a lively red color and more intense flavor.
Add the pasta, your sauce, the cubed mozarella and half the parmesan in a baking dish.
Top with the sliced mozarella and the remainder of the parmesan.
Bake for about 30 minutes until golden.