No F***’in’ Ziti: S1 Ep5 Carmela’s Sinful Ziti

Welcome to No F***in’ Ziti, the world’s first Sopranos Cooking Show where Mike and Tom from the NotaFoodie Show will be combining two of their biggest loves, great food, and amazing television. They will be cooking through all 86 episodes of The Sopranos. 

Although it would be fun to eat nothing but antipasti and gabagool, the plan is to go beyond the “red-sauce” and cook a meal inspired by each episode. Expect dishes like Veal Chops, Lobster, and even homemade Sausage.
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In Season 1 Episode 5 of The Sopranos “College” Tony and Meadow are off to upstate New York so Meadow can check out a few colleges she’s applying to. Carmela is home, sick with a fever and sends AJ to his friend’s house. Father Phil(the local church’s priest) shows up in the middle of the night because he “had a jones for her ziti.”

While the two of them are eating baked ziti and drinking Chianti, things got hot and heavy between the two of them and the sexual tension is palpable, but before anything occurs Father Phil goes and vomits in the bathroom.

Very Important: I know that this dish is called Baked Ziti and you would think Ziti would be the best pasta for this. It’s not, Rigatoni is better in every single possible way so please use that instead

Carmela’s Sinful Ziti

• 1/2 White Onion diced
• 3 Carrots peeled and diced
• 2 Celery Stalks diced
• 4 Garlic Cloves crushed and diced
• 1/2 lb 80/20 Ground Beef
• 1/4 lb Pancetta
• 3 Sweet Italian Sausages removed from casing
• 3 28 oz cans of Peeled Tomato(San Marzano preferred)
• 1 Cup Ricotta Cheese(Polly-O preferred)
• 1 Cup Grated Parmigiano Reggiano/Pecorino Romano
• 1 lb Mozzarella Cheese
• 2 lbs Rigatoni or Ziti
• Large Pyrex for baking

0.Cook and strain 2 pounds of Rigatoni and put to the side
1.Brown all of your meat and removed it from the pan, place it in a bowl to the side
2.Add your Mirepoix(Onion, Celery, Carrot) and cook in all the meat and pork fat
3.When Mirepoix becomes fragrant and onion becomes opaque and your garlic and cook until garlic becomes fragrant
4.Add all of your tomatoes and crush with a wooden spatula in sauce
5.Add Meat back into the sauce and simmer for 30 minutes
6. Add a little bit of sauce to the pasta so that it can moisten. Then add your ricotta, grated cheese, and half a pound of the mozzarella. Mix thoroughly
7.Lay your pasta down in your pyrex, add the rest of the sauce and top with mozzarella cheese.
8.Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove foil and bake for another 15 minutes
Mangiare!