Very Veggie Baked Ziti

This baked ziti is my Dead-of-The-Winter version, when there isn't a fresh tomato worth anything to be found for hundreds of miles and I've used up all of my stored summer sauces.  I'm perfectly content with purchasing a good quality, organic marinara sauce under these circumstances, especially because most of those sauces (as well as salsas) are packaged in glass jars versus BPA laden metal cans.

What I don't understand is the hold up for diced tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, plain old tomato sauce, etc, to join the ranks and be sold in glass jars.  It quite infuriates me, to be honest.  If pasta sauces and salsas have always been sold in jars, why in the world can't the manufacturers just make the move on the most basic tomato products already?  Pomi sells their tomato products in a "tetra pack", which is BPA free.  Eden Organic is trying to work out the kinks in their packaging to provide a BPA free product.  And Bionaturae already sells tomatoes in jars (just not in my neck of the woods).  Apparently some other companies have jumped on the bandwagon to rid our food of BPA contamination, too.  Where I live, the nearest Whole Foods or Trader Joe's is nearly 150 miles away, and the choices beyond the canned tomatoes is limited to Pomi, so that is what I use when I need to supplement my tomato stash.  And I'm pretty happy with the product (although, the tomatoes do come from the other side of the world). I do have to wonder, though, when the news will come out that some ingredient in that packaging is certain to cause some kind of detrimental health ailment.  It's kind of crazy that we have to question so many things about the health and quality of a package of tomatoes, don't you think?  I swear, this summer, I'm putting in a garden of some fair size to supplement what's available at the farmer's markets. Yes, this is they year, folks.

The nice thing about this ziti (in which I used penne because I didn't have any ziti) is that by using a pre-made marinara, the simmer time is reduced by a couple hours.  It's easy enough to jazz up the flavors of the sauce (because, let's face it - store bought pasta sauces are seriously lacking in personality), and by adding some more diced tomatoes to the sauce, we have enough total sauce to make a delightfully moist, flavorful baked ziti.

Very Veggie Baked Ziti can also be made ahead of time and refrigerated for up to 24 hours.

Very Veggie Baked Ziti
serves 8-10

• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 3 large portobello mushrooms, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 celery ribs, diced
• 1 white onion, diced
• 1 green or red bell pepper, diced
• 1 24-26 oz jar meatless marinara
• 1 1/2 c (or 15 oz) diced tomatoes
• 1/4 c dry red wine, optional
• 1 Tbs fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 tsp dried basil (or 1 Tbs fresh basil, chopped)
• 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano (or 1 1/2 Tbs fresh oregano, chopped), divided
• 15 oz whole milk ricotta
• 4 oz fresh mozzarella, shredded
• 3/4 c grated parmesan, divided
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 lb dried ziti (or penne, or other tube shaped pasta)

In a dutch oven or large skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat.  Saute mushrooms, garlic, celery, onions, and bell pepper for about 8 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.

Stir in the marinara, tomatoes, wine (if using), parsley, basil, and 1 tsp oregano (or 1 Tbs if using fresh).

Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer at least 20 minutes.

While the sauce is simmering:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Cook pasta until aldente.  Be careful not to overcook. Drain.

In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, mozzarella, 1/2 c parmesan, egg, salt and pepper.  Mix well.

In a 13x9 baking dish, spread 1 cup of sauce.  Top with 1/3 of the pasta (about 1 cup).

Top the pasta with 1 cup sauce.

Drop 1/3 of the cheese mixture by teaspoons full over the sauce.

Continue layering two more times; sauce, pasta, sauce, cheese, sauce, pasta, sauce, cheese.  Top with any remaining sauce.

Sprinkle with remaining parmesan and oregano.

Cover with foil*.  Bake in preheated oven 50 minutes.  Remove foil and continue to bake another 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to stand 10 minutes before serving.

*If you want to make this dish ahead of time, cover and refrigerate after it is assembled.  Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking.