Categories: main dish

Ingredients

• 1 pound ziti or other short tubular pasta
• 2-3 T olive oil
• 2 medium garlic cloves minced
• 38 ounces tomato sauce
• 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 t dried oregano
• salt and pepper, about 1 teaspoon each
• 1/2 c plus 2 T chopped fresh basil leaves divided
• 1 t sugar
• ground black pepper
• 1 t cornstarch
• 1 c heavy cream
• 1 pound whole milk cottage cheese or low fat cottage cheese
• 2 large eggs lightly beaten
• 3 ounces grated Parmesan cheese
• 8 mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Cook pasta for about 9 minutes. Drain and set aside.

2. Place oil and garlic in large pan and sauté over medium heat just until fragrant. Add all of the tomato sauce, chopped tomatoes, sugar, oregano, salt and pepper and cook for about 10 minutes until thickened a bit. Turn off heat and add 1/2 cup of chopped basil. Save the remaining basil for after cooking.

3. Pour heavy cream into a second large saucepan. While cream is cold, whisk in 1 teaspoon of cornstarch. Simmer over medium heat for about 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and add 1lb of cottage cheese, 2 beaten eggs, 1 cup of the tomato sauce mixture, and half of the Parmesan and cubed mozzarella (reserving the remaining Parmesan and mozzarella for top of dish). Stir until combined (this mixture will now be a light red/pinkish color).

4. Add the cooked pasta to the cream mixture. Stir until all of the pasta is coated.

5. Pour into a greased 9×13 pan. Pour remaining tomato mixture over the top and sprinkle the remaining cubed mozzarella and Parmesan cheese on top of the pasta in dish. Top dish with remaining chopped fresh basil ( I like to save a few leaves for after baking as well for color).

6. Cover dish tightly with foil. Bake at 350 degrees on middle rack of oven for 30 minutes with foil, then remove foil for last 30 minutes. Let sit for about 10 minutes before serving.

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