Baked Ziti With Easy Homemade Italian Gravy - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil (not extra virgin)
1 (28 ounce) can Italian plum tomatoes
1 (28 ounce) can tomato puree
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 chunk pecorino romano cheese (2-inch x 1/4-inch)
1 lb ground beef
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 lb Italian sausage, with fennel 4-5 inches each
1/2 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced
to taste hot pepper flakes (optional)
1 lb ziti pasta, rigatti
1 lb part-skim ricotta cheese
1 lb part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 cup pecorino romano cheese, grated
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Preparation

Gravy (2 hours before dinner or as early as a few days before) in a medium bowl mix together . . . ground beef, 1 tsp dried parsley, 1/2 tsp dried basil, 1 clove garlic minced, 2 TBS Italian Flavored Bread Crumbs, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper. Mix with fork until evenly blended. Brown meat mixture in olive oil in a 5 qt sauce pan. When cooked almost through remove.
Drain pan. Add 1 lb sausage. Brown well on all sides. Remove.
Drain pan well. Saute 1/2 lb sliced slice fresh mushroom until slightly brown.
Return sausage links and ground meat mixture to sauce pan. Add tomatoes, puree, 1 tsp parsley, 1 TBS basil, 1 clove minced garlic. Simmer 1 hour. Remove sausage, slice (1/4 \") return to pot. continue to simmer until ready to use.
NEXT. Fill large pot with 5 quarts cold water. Bring to boil. Cook ziti according to package directions (al dente).
While ziti is cooking mix together ricotta, 3/4 lb mozzarella, Romano and black pepper.
Preheat oven to 350\u00b0F.
Drain ziti well. Place in 9X12 baking dish. Add cheese mixture blend well.
With slotted spoon, remove 2-3 cups meat and mushrooms from gravy. Add to ziti. Add 1 cup extra sauce. Mix well. Top with remaining mozzarella. Cover. Bake 30 minutes. remove cover and baked another 5-10 minutes, until cheese melts and gets bubbly. You do not want it to brown.
Also works well with medium sized shells.
1 cup sliced black olives may be added to recipe or substituted for mushrooms.