4 Levels of Baked Ziti: Amateur to Food Scientist

[upbeat music]

I'm John and I'm a level one chef.

I'm Beth and I'm a level two chef.

I'm Danielle, creator of Diversity Kitchen

and I've been a professional chef for 16 years.

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Growing up in an Italian household,

baked ziti was one of those staple dishes that

you know we would just have as a family

'cause it's super easy to make.

Some good sauce, ricotta cheese,

mozzarella on top.

Today I'm going to be making

a baked ziti pie with zesty eggplant and lots of herbs.

It is really the gift that keeps on giving

in the form of leftovers all week long.

Today we're making baked ziti

with a ground lamb ragu and homemade pasta.

I was in Bologna, Italy, learning how to make

different types of Italian cuisine

and what better place to learn how to make bolognese sauce.

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For my bake ziti,

I like to use classic ziti pasta.

I know people use other things.

I just like to use the traditional stuff.

We're gonna start off by making our pasta dough.

Today I'm gonna use semolina flour

as well as all purpose flour.

Semolina flour has a lot of protein

and I wanna make sure that this dough

is more on the dry side.

Since we're putting it through the extruder,

we want something that's a little more firm

and that'll hold up.

Salt brings out the flavor in everything.

Of course, gotta add some salt.

Salt, lots of salt.

I also like to throw in a little olive oil.

My grandma used to do it.

So what I'm gonna do here

is I'm gonna just make a little well

and this is to put my eggs and my water

just so that I can slowly start to incorporate the liquid

with the flour and what you have to do with all pasta dough

is you have to let it rest,

allows time for the gluten to relax

and then you can start having fun

and putting it into any shape you want.

I like to use a boxed pasta,

just buy it from the store and call it a day.

And you're gonna add all of the pasta.

You wanna stir the pasta so they don't stick.

Hey Siri, set a timer for eight minutes.

My dough has rested

so now I can start working with it.

And I'm gonna create these little bowls

and they don't have to be perfect

because they're gonna be all pushed out

through the extruder, I'm gonna do that here.

And then you do wanna make sure

that you get roughly the same length.

You don't wanna have ones that are really short

and ones that are really long because what happens

is then they don't cook at the same rate.

Looks pretty good, right?

And look, this is perfect right there.

The sauce can actually get in the middle of the pasta.

Every bite you get some sauce.

What I'm gonna do now

is I'm gonna parboil these for two minutes.

I'm not gonna cook it all the way.

So our pasta's gonna cook in here.

It looks like it's good to go.

I do like to taste one piece

and just make sure it's nice and al dente.

Just before al dente, just before.

So it's still gonna be very, very firm.

Once we add the sauce and put in the oven to bake,

it'll finish cooking in the oven.

Mm perfect.

Let's call it done.

I think this is called a spider spatula

but don't quote me on that.

I'm not gonna rinse these,

I'm not gonna put olive oil on these.

It keeps things from sticking together.

I want the sauce to stick to the pasta, right?

Whenever you rinse it

you're washing off all that good starch.

My parbaked pasta.

Ziti's cooked.

We're gonna set it aside and then make our mixings.

Now I'm going to be making the marinara sauce

which is a very important part of our baked ziti pie.

First thing I do is chop garlic.

I'm one of those people who doubles it in recipes

five to seven cloves,

depending on how garlicy you're feeling that day.

Smells good.

Now it's time for the sauce.

To get started what I need to do first

is take what is considered the mirepoix.

A mirepoix is simply celery, onion, and carrot,

you can find it in a lot of different stocks,

sauces and things like that.

So I'm gonna use just a little bit in the sauce

to help build the flavor.

I'm gonna sweat these with a little bit of

olive oil in my pot and it's always more onion

than it is celery and carrot.

Just labor wise.

I'm gonna let this kind of sweat for a few minutes

until the onions become a little translucent.

And then I'm gonna go ahead and add my lamb.

So I'm gonna cook my lamb through.

I'm gonna let all the fat kind of render off.

Tomato paste and I have wine.

I am going to add the wine and I'm gonna reduce it a little.

And then I'm gonna add the tomato paste.

The tomato paste is what I'm gonna do

to it is called pincage or pincage.

And it's allowing the tomato paste to brown.

And when it browns, you are adding flavor.

We're gonna add, the tomatoes.

And then we are also going to add

some salt, red pepper flakes.

I love this 'cause it's kind of choose your own adventure.

If you want it spicer, add more red pepper flakes.

You want more oregano, sure, go for it.

Although oregano makes me burp,

but it smells like pizza, so it's not that bad.

Dried basil.

Homemade chicken stock.

And these are whole tomatoes.

As it cooks all day, all that's gonna break down.

Quite often, when you have Parmesan cheese

always tell people do not throw away the rind, right.

That's where your flavor is.

There is a very thin layer of wax on the outside.

Take the back of a knife

and then you'll slowly scrape, that is the wax

and that's what you don't want in your sauce.

I'm adding the rind of the cheese

and I'm gonna add prosciutto to this for flavor.

Both are gonna impart their own flavor

and they're gonna impart saltiness,

bring it up to a boil just so that it's hot, right?

And then I'm gonna turn it down immediately to a simmer

and I'm gonna let it go for a few hours.

Giving a little stir,

to make sure nothing is burning on the bottom.

We're gonna let this simmer down for about 20 minutes

and then it will be ready for the baked ziti.

I've simmered this sauce low and slow all day.

And honestly, it's perfect.

Not gonna make my sauce, bought this from the store

and we're just gonna pour it in this bowl.

And look at that, I just saved myself 12 hours

for making homemade marinara sauce.

All right, so you can't have bake ziti pie without cheese.

I like to use some delicious, full fat ricotta cheese.

You put the little honey on this and there's dessert.

And then of course, some pre shredded mozzarella.

Fresh mozzarella

Low fat mozzarella.

I love this one because how it melts and how it browns.

Fontina, it melts more along the lines of like a cheddar.

I'm going to fold it in with the pasta and the sauce.

And then of course the Parmigiano Reggiano.

It's fantastic, I mean, it's the king of Italian cheeses

but it really impart a nutty flavor.

So you wanna take your fresh mozzarella

and you wanna grate it on your biggest setting

of grater possible.

So this is my Fontina cheese.

And now the mozzarella.

I know some people like to add their sauce

separate from their cheese,

but we're making it easy and throwing it all in one bowl,

easy, clean up, no mess.

I'm an animal so I'm just gonna eyeball lots of mozzarella

and we'll just save the rest for topping the baked ziti off.

Anyone could do this, even me.

So we have our mozzarella here,

our Fontina, and then I'll take a micro plane

and just do a little bit of our Parmigiano Reggiano on top.

For our second cheese today, we could do Parmesan

but we're gonna spruce it up,

we're gonna use Pecorino,

it's got all the same kind of nutty characteristics

that a Parmesan has but for me, it's earthier.

The last thing I like to put

on baked ziti is bread crumbs.

I'm all about textures.

You get the creaminess of the cheese,

you get the al dente from the pasta

but I always feel like it misses one thing

and that's a crunch.

So I'm just gonna make a little bit of crotons

and that will be our final garnish.

I prefer to do my crotons in the oven

versus on the stove top.

I find doing them in the pan,

they don't get crispy all the way through sometimes.

I'm gonna add a little bit of olive oil, salt and pepper.

I like to season my crotons

and I'm gonna toast it on 400 degrees

for about eight to 10 minutes

until they're golden brown all the way through.

And off to the oven they go.

We've got some eggplant that we're gonna peel and cube.

I wouldn't skimp on the olive oil here

because eggplant's gonna cook in the olive oil,

it's gonna soak it up.

And each bite is gonna be like this burst of flavor.

Now let's add some red pepper flakes.

I like to keep my baked ziti really simple

with just cheese and sauce

but I'm gonna taste it and see if it needs

a few extra seasoning for addition.

Okay, yep, a little bit of salt.

[Beth] Salt.

Nice amount of black pepper. Pepper.

And then Italian seasoning.

I literally use this on everything.

So once it's all there, just gonna mix it,

another little taste.

Okay, yeah, that taste like Italian seasoning.

So I think this is ready to go.

Leave these on medium high

for maybe about 15 to 20 minutes,

depending on how your eggplant look

you want them kind of golden brown.

Golden brown around the edges.

I just took my crotons out of the oven and they're crunchy.

That's what I want.

Breadcrumbs on any pasta,

I think just add a nice little texture component to it.

And there you have it,

my bread crumbs are now ready for use.

We've got lemon, acid.

I think that this dish it's got a lot of cheese, pasta,

acid just brightens up the dish

and it makes it feel a little bit lighter,

a little bit fresher.

I like to zest a full lemon

and then take the juice from about half the lemon.

So in terms of herbs,

lemon and thyme together are just my favorite.

I actually have a lemon and thyme tattoo.

Now we're gonna take fresh basil leaves, just rip it,

smells like Italy.

They're nice golden brown, not mushy.

So now we kind of just wanna mix together

this will come together and be our topping here

for our lovely pie.

And you wanna add some marinara sauce

kind of to like moisten it up a little bit,

maybe about a cup

and then some Pecorino.

We are ready to assemble.

So now I'm gonna put everything together

and then throw it in the oven to bake it.

[Beth] The first thing we wanna do is

coat the pasta with the sauce.

And I have freshly chopped basil

because I didn't add it in the sauce while it was cooking,

I'm gonna add it here because I want that to be

nice and bright before it goes into the oven.

And now this is where I said I like to add my Fontina

because I like to have a little bit of cheese

in with the pasta and not just on top

So now we want to assemble all of the ziti

in an upright position, into the pan

Just a nice coating of cooking spray

and then just dumping it in the dish.

This color is perfect, pasta looks great.

It's undercooked already a little bit

so when it finishes in the oven, it's gonna be phenomenal.

All right, we're almost there, so close.

[Danielle] What I like to do is add a little bit of sauce

on the bottom of each dish.

Okay, here we go.

Our pasta with plenty of sauce is in each container.

So we've got all of our noodles standing up

together in our pan.

We're going to want to take some marinara sauce

and you'll want to coat the top.

Oh, and it's getting in all of those holes.

Next we want to take our eggplant mixture

and just kind of put it all on top.

That's where all that flavor is, you know

the lemons zest, the herbs,

one flat layer and now, mozzarella.

[Danielle] Mozzarella. Mozzarella.

Now, you know, this looks good. [laughing]

And then just a touch of my Parmigiano Reggiano.

I am using a nine inch spring form pan

that has this little clasp here.

And it allows you to bake something and then remove it.

And then underneath it, stands up.

Comes in handy, a lot for baking

but when you don't have a sweet tooth

these are the kind of pies you like.

So now that this is ready, I'm gonna pop it in the oven

at the 350 for about 30 minutes,

make sure the cheese is nice and cooked, gonna be so tasty.

So in the oven, it goes.

So we're ready to go into the oven.

I like to bake it at 375 for about 30 minutes.

The breadcrumbs will be for after,

but first these are gonna go in the oven at 450

for about 12 to 15 minutes

and I just want this cheese to be nice and golden brown.

Voila.

Now that I've let it rest.

We're ready to open it up

and see who this pie is meant to be.

Oh my God, so satisfying.

Oh, the magic of the spring form pan.

And there we have it, my baked ziti fresh out of the oven.

You can tell it's a nice little golden brown on top.

I'm ready to have a bite.

And this is my baked ziti.

If you're going to make me a cake, this is what I want.

And there you have it.

My baked ziti.

So now it's time for my favorite part, tasting.

All that goodness.

So good.

It's cheesy, it's saucy, it's warm.

It's everything you want in a baked ziti dish.

Little kick, little spice.

Perfect, it's still al dente,

the pasta sauce is fantastic.

The fresh basil just really brightens everything up.

It's great.

Tastes just like what my grandma made.

Throw some candles in it, happy birthday to me.

Baked ziti is a wonderful comfort food.

Let's see how each of our three chefs made theirs.

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Both John and Beth used dried ziti pasta for their dish.

Commercial dried pasta is made on an industrial scale

from hard durum wheat, which is slightly golden

because it contains carotenoids and called hard

because of its high gluten protein concentration.

These proteins also give dried pasta a harder texture

which limits the loss of dissolved proteins and starch

during cooking, which keeps it firm.

Danielle made her own pasta

from durum and all purpose flours

mixed with eggs and a touch of water.

When making pasta by hand,

a hundred percent durum is so high in gluten proteins

that it can be hard to mix without the aid of equipment.

Hence, the addition of all purpose flour

made this handmade pasta easier to manage

with a one-to-one ratio of these two flours.

Egg yolks add enough fat to make the pasta

supple and delicate and the whites add additional protein

to mitigate for the lower all-purpose flour used

and to make the pasta more cohesive,

which limits the starches from the all-purpose flour

from leaking into the boiling water.

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John used store bought marinara sauce.

Marinara is a thinner tomato sauce.

Some commercial brands include preservatives

and flavor enhancers like sugar and citrus acid.

It's convenient.

Beth made a quick tomato sauce with canned tomatoes

that she seasoned with classic aromatics

and red pepper flakes to add a touch of heat.

Canned tomatoes are usually harvested at peak ripeness

and canned almost immediately

to preserve the fresh quality of the tomatoes.

They usually have preservatives added like citric acid

and sometimes calcium chloride,

which is a salt that helps the tomatoes

to retain some firmness during the canning process.

Danielle made a wonderful thick lamb ragu.

The key to her level three ragu

is layers of caramelization and flavor.

She started with aromatics in olive oil.

Many of the flavor compounds in onions, celery and carrots

are lipid soluble so they're expressed in the olive oil

which then permeates the entire sauce.

She was sure to brown her ground lamb

which added brown color and roasted savory notes

from Maillard browning.

She caramelized her tomato paste,

which added slight sweetness

to compliment the San Marzano tomatoes

which are especially designated in Italy.

I didn't want watery sauce.

[dramatic music]

John used ricotta cheese,

which is not a cheese in the truest sense

but is made from the watery byproduct

when making curds from milk called whey.

So good.

It's high in lactic globulin, proteins

and riboflavin with heavy cream added.

Beth used Pecorino, a hard sheep's milk cheese

that doesn't melt very well.

It's slightly crunchy from crystallized tyrosine,

an amino acid found in milk.

It's sharp and salty.

Danielle used Fontina, my favorite,

which is a softer cheese made in the Aosta valley in Italy

As soon as the cows are milked.

All three chefs also used shredded mozzarella

which melts extremely well

because it's made from stretching curds

which aligns the protein matrix into parallel fibers

with fat and whey, filling the spaces in between.

The separation of fibers

decreases the number of connections between the proteins

making it melt like a dream.

It just adds a creaminess to it.

Baked ziti is so satisfying for lunch, dinner

and definitely as leftovers.

Whether you're a crowd or making individual portions

we hope you'll take some tips from our three amazing chefs.

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