Any suggestion on something to give a baked ziti something extra?

[Ohio Joe]

I usually do my standard which has a sauce with ground beef & ground Italian sausage, onion, garlic... Then I'll mix sauce, ziti and some mozzarella and bake... Top it with more mozzarella and browned meatball slices and bake a bit more.

It's good, I love it but... I'd love to hear any other idea's... I was thinking of trying one with an Alfredo sauce instead of regular red gravy but I'm not sure what to add... Maybe some broc? What kind of meat might fit? Would an Alfredo sauce even work like that

All thoughts welcome, Thanks!

[MADem]

1. Tear up some fresh basil, sprinkle it on top just before serving.

Put a little parm on top when you 'bake a bit more.'

Sometimes the simplest things have the most impact.

I tend not to bake alfredo sauced meals, simply because I never saw anyone do it in Italy -- no other reason!

[Ohio Joe]

2. Fresh basil... Why did that never occur to me

Doh! I can get some though I do know that I have some really nice fresh grated parm/romano mix on hand.

Cool, Thank You!

[MADem]

12. Hope I helped!

I lived for many years in Italy, and had neighbors who fed me constantly. Part of my "education" was going out to the garden and dragging in the vegetables for the meal. Then I'd sit in the kitchen, yammer in my imperfect Italian with my non-English speaking hosts, and do easy "prep" chores whilst the meal was prepared. I learned a lot, three of the biggest things I learned were simplicity is elegance, less is more, and fresh is best.

I learned that the best "dressing" for fresh salads was a hint of olive oil, a good squeeze of fresh lemon, and salt! The lemons over there are slightly less intense than the ones over here, but it still works, and that's all I have on salad these days...!

Basil is the one herb I try to keep growing on my windowsill...I can make do with a lot of dry herbs, but two I like fresh are basil and cilantro!

[Arkansas Granny]

3. Maybe mix some bread crumbs, parm and a little olive oil

to sprinkle over top for the last few minutes for a little texture.

[snappyturtle]

4. Chopped jalapenos into the sauce? nt

[Inkfreak]

5. My wife won me over doing that. Love it. (nt)

[Aerows]

6. Oh that sounds delicious!

How much do you put in?

[snappyturtle]

13. How much?That depends on

how hot the peppers are and your taste. If you add them toward the end of the cooking time they seem to be 'hotter' than adding them in the beginning. I usually use 2-3....there again isanother factor size. Sorry...not much of an answer.

[Warpy]

15. Jalapenos are not that hot

if you remove the seeds and pith in the center. There's a little heat in the light colored stuff running down the insides but certainly not much per pepper. I always find I need to add something with a little more kick, like serranos, if I want the heat as well as the flavor.

[Melissa G]

7. I would add chopped spinach with a little basil.

I usually saute beef or bison meat with Montreal steak seasoning before adding. You could also add sliced baby bellas, but as a previous poster mentioned, less can be more. Good luck!

[maddezmom]

8. I add ricotta cheese to mine

Also some red pepper flakes.

[pinto]

9. If you go the Alfredo sauce route maybe some mushrooms, sauteed asparagus or eggplant?, black pepper

[GoCubsGo]

10. Chopped red peppers, sun-dried tomatoes.

Either or both would not only give it a nice zing, but would add some nice color to it if you go with the Alfredo sauce. I like the suggestion of some spinach, too.

[The empressof all]

11. Skip the ground beef

Add a spicy red sauce and chunks of ham....

Very delicious....and a great way to get rid of ham....

[Ohio Joe]

14. oh... Thank you so much everyone, I really appreciate all the suggestions...

I did not get past the word 'alfredo' with my brother this morning so... I'm putting that thought on the back burner till he's not going to be here for dinner

So many good suggestion here and this is what I'm going to try... Get rid of the meats and cut up this nice hunk of left-over pork tenderloin (I did it up with butter and garlic... So tender and juicy ) for it instead. I'm also ditching the mozzarella at the start and putting in the ricotta, also some baby bellas, onion, garlic and fresh spinach (if they have it at Albertsons... I don't know). Then mozzarella & the parm/romano for the last little bit.

I'm not sure if I'm going to go with the meatball on top or not... I made them a week or so ago and have them frozen but I don't remember how I made this batch So I have some thawing and I'll see what the hell I did and if they work with the rest of it... If they go, great and if not we have meatball subs for lunch tomorrow

I'd also like to say that I'm really big on the idea of try to do a version of this with jalapenos. Before I can to CO, my experience with anything hot was limited to Cholula sauce (which I still consider the sauce of the gods! And I will be putting it on my portion of dinner but my brother hates Cholula and will only use Franks (he is a heathen) so we always glare at each other over the table while using our own sauces... hehe) but since being here I have tried many wonderful dishes made with them (cooked by other people). Let us just say that I am still working on using them in my own dishes while keeping things edible... So I'll wait on them until I've improved

Again... Thanks so much to everyone! I've been up for almost two days so I am expecting to crash shortly after dinner but I'll stop in tomorrow and let you know how it came out

[pinto]

16. Have a good one!

[MiddleFingerMom]

17. Once again, I've come late to the conversation. I used to make...

.
.
.
... a chicken/broccoli Alfredo lasagna that was to die for. Simply take out the red sauce
and ground beef and put in the chicken, broccoli and Alfredo sauce. Everything else
remains exactly the same.
.
Subllime!!!
.
I tried adding spinach on one occasion and mushrooms on another. They actually
diminished the experience -- I think simplicity is important here.
.
I second your nomination of Cholula as hot sauce of the gods. Since moving to Tucson
in '97, I've tried LOTS of hot sauces and none can compare for overall heat/flavor
goodness. There are fairly often bottles of it on the tables at restaurants here. It comes
in little packets, too -- like ketchup and mustard.
.
I went to a McDonalds here in the early 80's when I was first visiting the area. They
had packets of jalapeno relish on their condiment island (no heat or taste of the
peppers whatsoever, though).
.
.
.

[cbayer]

18. I really like the alfredo idea, but I love alfredo on just about anything.

You could basically make a very simple, but markedly improved, macaroni and cheese.

Cooked ziti, cream, parmesan cheese, s & P and breadcrumbs/butter on top.

Probably not the main dish you were looking for, but it would be a great side, imo.

[Lugnut]

19. My daughter uses some provolone.

She layers slices of provolone in the layers along with the mozzarella. It adds just the right taste.

[Ohio Joe]

20. This came out pretty damn good

I had to make a bit of adjustment but... I started off as I posted in #14, I got everything I needed at the store so I thought I'd be fine. Unfortunately I found out the mozzarella I had was no good anymore, as soon as I opened the contained I caught a whiff of it and closed it back up and threw it away. The dish was so close to done and I really just did not want to run out to the store again so we just topped it with sliced meatballs and some parm/romano.

My brother did not think the pork tenderloin & meatball worked as good as it could have (not that it stopped him from having two servings) but I liked it

Thanks again for all the suggestions! At some point I'll have the ambition to work on some type of baked alfredo dish... I'm liking cbayer's thought about doing it up like mac&cheese... We'll see when I get there.

[Frosty1]

21. I add sliced zucchini to my standard red sauce recipe.