{No Skillet} Baked Ziti & Catering 101

So last Saturday I helped my Aunt with my cousin's graduation party.  I made 1 full tray of eggplant rollatini, pulled pork, assorted roasted veggies, tex mex rice, and 5 full trays of baked ziti.  She cooked dishes like chicken, bacon mac and cheese, penne ala vodka etc.  So we definitely had a nice spread. 

I love cooking and my family -so what better way to tie it all in as to help cater a party.  Unfortunately because of the rain the turn out wasn't as many as expected, but we still had a lot of people come- maybe 100 including kids.  I really hope to take this catering business further because I had a lot of fun with it. 

It is definitely some sort of art to prepare what I did in a kitchen so small with one oven.  Oh, and did I mention I have never made eggplant rollatini before.  It came out really good!{Thank God!}  I took this challenge on full force and bought wayyyy too much food (thank god for returns) and spilled some food in my trunk- gross (thank god for carpet cleaner). But overall it went great.

I also misread my Aunt's message and made WAY too much ziti- so here's a quick and easy recipe for baked ziti- because if I can make 5 full trays in one night, you can make some for your family for dinner :)

Oh, also baked ziti is supposedly traditionally made without ricotta cheese- but who wouldn't want ricotta cheese!? This is also a non-meat version- if you wanted to add meat- you would have to use a skillet ;)  And of course this isn't one of my healthier meals- but you can use part skim ricotta and mozzarella, plus whole wheat pasta for a "lighter" version- maybe swap some pasta for some veggies.

Ingredients

(I usually use a 9x13 casserole dish with this recipe)

• Olive oil
• 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 1 tablespoon of dried basil
• 1 tablespoon of dried oregano
• 1 tsp of red pepper flakes (or more if you like it spicy)
• 1 cup of ricotta cheese (I usually use part skim)
• 1 lb of ziti (or you could use rigatoni or penne or any tubular pasta you have on hand)
• 1/2 cup or so of mozzarella cheese for the topping

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F
2. Get your pasta water on to boil.
3. In a small sauce pan- saute your onion in about 2 tbs of olive oil on medium.  After they get soft about 5 to 7 minutes add your garlic and saute about 2 minutes. 
4. Then add your tomatoes to onion and garlic.  Add your spices and stir to combine.  (I like to add a bit of water to the sauce to make it a bit thinner- but this a personal preference)
5. Bring the sauce to a boil, then reduce to a simmer- let simmer until your ready to assemble.
6. When the pasta water is boiling, add your pasta and cook to al dente (because it will continue to cook in the oven)
7. Get your casserole dish and add the sauce and ricotta cheese to it and mix to combine (I don't get crazy with mixing- it will all combine well when baking)
8. When pasta is done add your pasta to the casserole dish and carefully toss the pasta (so no overflow) with the sauce and cheese.
9. When that is done top the pasta with mozzarella cheese (If I have sometimes I like to use parmesean and mozzarella).  Cover with tinfoil and bake for 30 minutes.
10. Serve and enjoy! Suggestion: serve with salad. 

I also apologize for no picture :( As you can see after I made all this food, I was just happy I was able to finish it all in time. Yea, 18 of those bad boys.

If anyone in the Long Island, NYC area is interested contact me at bstarcatering@gmail.com

Pinwheels and Calzones

So this past weekend I got engaged!  Super excited and hopefully I will be able to keep up with all the planning, work and my blog!  I think I'll manage- I mean, we still have to eat! 

(I also want to apologize for the sub-par photos- my camera is MIA right now!  The pics might not be as great- but it sure did taste awesome- I didn't even get a chance to take a photo of the finished cooked pinwheels- we ate them too fast!)

Anyway- so Sunday is Football day in our house and it usually means pizza too.  I changed it up a bit and made some pinwheels and calzones.  Start off with my pizza dough recipe and that will make about one dozen pinwheels and 4 calzones.  These are super versatile and you can use absolutely anything you want inside them both.  I used what I had in the fridge/freezer and dipped in my home made sauce. 

Pinwheels

Ingredients

• 1/4 lb. Pepperoni, sliced or chopped
• 1 green pepper, sliced
• 1 small tomato, sliced
• about 1½ cups of mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 c. of your favorite tomato sauce

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to about 450 degrees F
2. Make the dough and then divide into two pieces if you will be making both recipes (one for the pinwheels, one for the calzones), if not make double wheels or save the rest in the fridge
3. Roll the dough out into a large rectangle shape.  Make sure you use a lot of flour on the underside of the dough so it is easy to roll up.  Don't roll the dough too thin, we don't want it to rip, but if it does don't worry just patch it up- these are very rustic.
4. It is almost like we are making a Sicilian pizza.  Spread the sauce out very lightly and evenly.  Then top with all your toppings and gently roll up into a log.
5. Slice even sections about 1½ inches thick. 
6. Gently transfer to a baking sheet and squish the wheels together a bit so they keep their shape. 
7. Cook about 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Calzones

• Use the remaining half of the dough you made
• 1½ c of mozzarella
• 1 cup of ricotta cheese
• 1 small onion diced
• 1½ c of broccoli (I used my own frozen and just defrosted and chopped up)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• Pepperoni

Directions

1. I put the oven to 500 degrees F and then when they just started to get brown I lowered the heat to 350 degrees and let it go for another five minutes or so just so everything is cooked through- because these were thicker and I didn't want them to burn.
2. Separate your ingredients evenly into 4 piles (for each of the calzones to make it easier)
3. Roll the dough out into a large rectangle- like the pinwheels
4. Cut the dough into 4 rectangles.
5. Layer all our ingredients onto one side of the rectangle then just fold over the other side on top of everything- like a blanket.  Press the edges together to seal the calzone- you can even use a fork to make it look prettier. 
6. Gently slice a couple slits on the top of the calzone to let the steam out- otherwise it will explode.
7. I sprayed them with a little cooking spray and laid on a baking sheet, then popped in the oven  (See step one for oven directions)