Baked Ziti with Mushrooms, Peppers and Parmesan

By ghinman

Ingredients

• 3 lg. yellow, bell peppers diced in 1/4" pieces
• 1 lg. onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tbs. olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1 1/2 lbs. mushrooms, sliced thin
• 2 med. red bell peppers, cut into 1/4" strips
• 2 med. orange bell peppers, cut into 1/4" strips
• 1 lb. ziti
• 8 scallions (green part only)
• 2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Details

Servings 8

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a 3-4 quart heavy saucepan, cook yellow peppers. onion and garlic in 1 tbs. olive oil, covered, over moderately low heat. Stir occasionally, until peppers are soft, about 10 min. Stir in cream.
In a blender, puree mixture in batches (use caution when blending hot liquids), transferring to a large bowl, and season with salt and pepper. (Sauce may be made 2 days ahead and chilled, covered. Bring sauce to room temperature before proceeding.)
In a deep, large, heavy skillet, cook mushrooms, and peppers in remaining 2 tbs. oil over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until peppers are softened and most of the liquid is evaporated (about 5 min.), and season with salt and pepper.
Fill a 6-7 quart kettle three fourths full with salted water and bring to a boil. Stir in ziti and cook until just tender, about 10 min. Reserve 1 cup pasta cooking water and drain ziti in a collander. Rinse and drain well. Thinly slice scallion greens. Into sauce, stir ziti, mushroom mixture, scallion greens, 1 1/2 cups Parmesan, reserved cooking water, and salt and pepper to taste. Spoon mixture into a 3 qt. shallow baking dish and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup Parmesana. Bake ziti in middle of oven until hot and pasta begins to brown, about 15 minutes.