Ziti are a particular format of durum wheat pasta, elongated, tubular, about 25 cm long and smooth.
Practically smooth penne that feel spaghetti.
They have a larger diameter than bucatini and, although they fall in size in long pasta, they are traditionally used in typical recipes of southern Italy mostly broken.
They are ideal for cooking in the oven and for making timbale and omelettes, but they can also be used as pasta to be seasoned as desired.
To cook 100 g of ziti you need 1 liter of water and 7 g of salt on average, but if you want to cook it again in the oven, drain it very al dente.
Why are they called Ziti?
According to the Neapolitan tradition, this pasta was prepared for the engagement.
In fact, engaged couples are called "ziti" in dialect.
Neapolitan Ziti
To prepare this typically Campania dish, start with the seasoning.
Make a sauté of celery, carrot, onion and garlic and brown 500 g of chopped veal meat and 100 g of bacon.
Pour in the white wine and then, once the alcohol has evaporated, add 400 g of tomato sauce.
Salt and pepper and add occasionally a little hot water. The sauce must cook for about two hours.
Once ready, cook the broken pasta in salted boiling water, drain and season with the sauce.
Pour it into a baking dish and sprinkle it with 100 g of caciocavallo and 100 g of mozzarella.
Bake at 180 degrees for 30 minutes and let stand before serving.
Larded Ziti
This recipe is very simple and quick, but at the same time tasty.
Prepare a sauté with the chopped onion and oil and add some colonnata lard.
Then pour in the tomato puree and continue cooking.
Salt and pepper and add some basil leaves to perfume.
Break the pasta and cook it in boiling salted water.
Drain and season with the sauce and plenty of grated pecorino.
Genoese Ziti
This first course is white and is prepared with a very tasty meat-based dressing, the classic Genoese.
Start with a mixture of celery, carrots and onion and brown about 600 g of baby walker or magatello, then add some white wine and once the alcohol has evaporated add two bay leaves and cook the meat with the lid over low heat for about two hours.
Occasionally add hot water or broth so as not to dry the seasoning too much.
At the end, salt and pepper and flake the meat a little, which if of the first quality will be soft as butter.
With this sauce, season the broken pasta, cooked and drained al dente and complete with grated Parmesan.
Ziti with eggplants
A recipe that resembles a pasta alla Norma because it has fried eggplants and a very tasty cheese which is Sicilian caciocavallo, instead of salted ricotta.
The peculiarity of this dish is baking.
Prepare a simple tomato and onion sauce and flavor it with basil.
Separately cut the aubergine into cubes and fry it in hot oil.
Drain it well and then mix it with the sauce.
Season the pasta cooked whole or broken and fill a baking dish.
Sprinkle everything with Sicilian caciocavallo and cook at 200 degrees for 10 minutes.
Dome of ziti
You can create a scenic dome of ziti if you want to impress your guests.
Just use a special mold for cooking your pasta in the oven, namely a dome.
Season the pasta with a simple sauce enriched with caciocavallo and mozzarella or with ragu and peas or with aubergines as in the previous recipe.
Grease and sprinkle a mold with breadcrumbs and then fill it.
Bake at 200 degrees for 10 minutes.
You can use whole ziti, cook them separately and use them to line the pan and then others broken to fill the dome.
For a scenographic effect you should place one zito on top of the other on a regular basis to cover all the walls.
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