This dish was really good. I mean, really, really good. Probably one of my better off the cuff experiments. It started off with me being broke, having a few random pasta ingredients in the fridge and needing to make a cheap dinner that would make good leftovers for lunch. I found a recipe on weight watchers of a baked ziti dish that looked promising. So I went with that concept but basically made something up completely on my own.
I cooked 2 heaping cups of penne pasta to al dente. I made a sauce with 1 can diced tomatoes/1 can crushed tomatoes with fresh basil, oregano, lemon juice, garlic, salt, wee pinch of sugar, pepper, crushed red pepper and dry oregano. I don't measure anything so, um, add that stuff til it tastes good. While that was bubbling away I wilted down some baby spinach in olive oil (about a cup or so), chopped up some pepperonis and mixed one cup of ricotta cheese w/one egg.
Then I layered everything in my casserole dish. I started with sauce, added some pasta, ricotta, pepperoni, sauce, pasta, ricotta, pepperoni, spinach, pasta, ricotta, sauce and topped it all off with some shredded mozzarella. I threw it in the oven at 375 for about 30 minutes or so. I then broiled the top for about a minute or 2 just to get the cheese nice and brown. So basically it was sort of a lasagna w/different noodles and super easy to throw together. I'll definitely make this again, it's hardly any more difficult than spaghetti but so much tastier.
