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The Italian-American tray bake, tubes of pasta in fennel-scented sausage sauce with pockets of ricotta left whole rather than stirred in. Built for a crowd and for leftovers.
Squeeze the 450 g italian sausage out of its casings into a wide pan with the 15 ml olive oil and fry over high heat for 8 minutes, breaking it into rough lumps rather than fine mince so it stays chunky in the bake.
Add the chopped onion, the 12 g garlic, the red pepper flakes and the crushed fennel seed for 4 minutes, then pour in the 600 g marinara and simmer for 8 minutes.
Boil the 450 g ziti for 3 minutes less than the packet says, so the tubes are still firm. They finish in the oven and soak up sauce as they go.
Toss the drained ziti through the sauce with half the mozzarella, tip it into a 30 by 20 cm dish, then dot the 300 g ricotta over in heaped spoonfuls. Leave the blobs whole instead of mixing them in, so each serving hits a creamy pocket.
Scatter the rest of the mozzarella and the parmesan over and bake at 200°C for 20 to 25 minutes until the top is patchy golden and the edges are crisp and bubbling.
Rest for 5 minutes, tear the basil over and serve straight from the dish.
