Burst tomato baked ziti combines broiled and burst tomatoes with creamy ricotta, fresh mozzarella, and marinara sauce. It’s indulgent and tomato-packed at the same time. 

Have we officially ditched those New Year’s resolutions yet?

Good!

I have a pasta for you. Any time I wanna justify eating a boatload of noodles or carbs, I always add a lot of fresh tomatoes. Case in point would be evident in my grilled tomato and burrata sandwiches. Balance, right?

The tomatoes cancel out all the bad (yet delicious) things, that cheese and carbs do to my body.

Trust me. I am the one with two cookbooks and a recipe blog.

I love a good baked pasta recipe. My classic lasagna recipe is one of my favorites. On nights when I don’t wanna do the whole meat sauce from scratch, I turn to my trusty broiler to burst and blacken some cherry or grape tomatoes.

The tomatoes are sweet little gems that take no time at all to make.

They add a little moisture to an otherwise crispy baked pasta dish. The one gripe I have with baked pastas that use ricotta is all the creaminess gets lost and it dries up when it cooks. I understand why my friend who makes a Friendsgiving lasagna every year uses bechamel sauce instead of ricotta.

The trick I read in the New York Times Cooking section is to add a little heavy cream to the ricotta before mixing it into the pasta. The ricotta stays creamy in burst tomato baked ziti.

You are going to love everything about this… unless, like Mike, you don’t like tomatoes.

If you really hate the tomatoes as much as he does, you can skip them or cut them before broiling so the guts don’t end up in the pasta.

So many options with this pasta people!

Burst Tomato Baked Ziti

Yield: Serves 6-8

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Baked ziti in marinara with broiled tomatoes, creamy ricotta, and fresh mozzarella.

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Ingredients

• 1 pint cherry/grape tomatoes
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 16 ounces ricotta
• ½ cup heavy cream
• ½ cup finely grated Parmesan or Pecorino, plus more for grating on top
• 1 pound ziti, rigatoni, penne, manicotti or other short, tube-like pasta
• 1 cup reserved pasta water
• 2 cups jarred marinara sauce
• 1 pound fresh mozzarella, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Drop the past and cook to right before al dente, slightly undercooked. It will finish cooking in the sauce in the oven.
2. Preheat the broiler to high. Add the tomatoes and olive oil to a foil lined baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper. Broil the tomatoes for about 5 -7 minutes total. Give the baking sheet a shake every now and then to evenly cook. Once the tomatoes pop or char, they are done. Set off to the side.
3. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
4. Once the past is cooked, drain and make sure to reserve the pasta water. In a large mixing bowl, mix the pasta with the marinara and a splash of the reserved pasta water. Mix until evenly coated.
5. In a separate bowl, mix the heavy cream with the ricotta and parmesan cheese.
6. Add about 1/3 of the coated pasta to a 3 quart baking dish. Top with a few spoonfuls of the ricotta mixture, a handful of fresh mozzarella, and 1/3 of the broiled tomatoes. Continue that process for 2 more layers.
7. Add some more grated parmesan cheese to the top before baking.
8. Bake for 35-40 minutes until the edges are nice and crisp and the cheese is golden bubbly.
9. Let the pasta cool for 7-10 minutes before dishing out.

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  Enamelware Lasagna Pan, 12.5 x 9 inches, Burgundy/Cream Splatter