I have been seeing a commercial lately for a pasta sauce that you pour onto ziti type pasta, add some water, sprinkle grated cheese on top, and bake, instead of cooking the noodles separately.

Has anyone tried this? I have made baked lasagna (no separate noodle cooking) before and it turned out well. In the commercial it looks like your standard-sized jar of Ragu or Prego, and it doesn't look any thicker than normal spaghetti sauce.

I know I should be able to do this at home, but don't know how much pasta to use (I assume weight is more important than type here) and how much water. I keep forgetting to check out the stuff at the store when I'm there! :) Thanks for any suggestions.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), March 06, 2002

Answers

I do this alot, before ragu thought of it. I add 1 cup of water to the dry pasta and sauce and top with cheese. bake one hour and YUMMY! Im not sure how much pasta I use , about 10 or 12 oz dry. But I feed 5 normal eaters and one that eats for two..sometimes three or four.( my hubby..LOL).

-- Kristean Thompson (pigalena_babe@yahoo.com), March 06, 2002.

I have tried the stuff and it is pretty good, it may be a little thicker than the normal sauce. You take a 16 ounce package of pasta, pour the jar of sauce over it then add a jar of water and bake. Then about 5 minutes before it is done you put cheese on top. It has a pretty good flavor. I bought mine at an outlet for a dollar so I am not sure how much it is regularly.

-- j willis (jwillis@louish.com), March 06, 2002.

Works great when you're camping, just use a dutch oven.

-- Emil in TN (eprisco@usit.net), March 06, 2002.

The camping idea is a good one. Thanks Emil!

-- cowgirlone in OK (cowgirlone47@hotmail.com), March 06, 2002.

I like this too and I think the sauce is thicker than regular. I don't use as much pasta as what they call for because my clan likes their pasta saucier than what it would be with their directions.

-- Terri in WV (mrs_swift_26547@yahoo.com), March 06, 2002.

Thanks everyone for the answers--I wonder if you added a tad bit of flour to the regular sauce if it would thicken it a bit....hmmm, will have to experiment with that!

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), March 07, 2002.

I think this 'special' sauce is a Madison Avenue ploy! -G- Some of the jarred sauces are quite thick and I'm sure they'd work in the oven. You may have to experiment with the amount of water.

I often use chunky salsa or chunky picante sauce on the speghetti instead of the traditional stuff.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2222@hotmail.com), March 07, 2002.