Sunday was my first night making my way through the cookbook Entertaining With the Sopranos. I chose the Baked Ziti and Bechamel Sauce recipes because I remember them serving it so many times throughout the Soprano’s series, even Father Phil lusted for Carmela’s baked ziti. I have to admit that this recipe took a bit more time and dirtied more pots than I had anticipated, but in the end it was well worth it. To respect the writer of the cookbook, I will not post the exact recipe, you’ll need to purchase the book for that, but I will refer to the basics. You need to time things correctly, chop up the ham, cheeses and get the Bechamel Sauce cooking while the pasta is cooking. I made the recipe exactly as they have it written in the book, but we all felt that it needed black pepper (although it only called for white pepper) to add more “kick”. Actually, red pepper flakes would have been fantastic as well. It is a layered casserole, lasagna style, layering ziti, Bechamel Sauce, fresh and smoked mozzarella, ham and Parmigiano-Reggiano. You can’t go wrong with those ingredients! This recipe is quite rich, but made enough for “encore night” (left overs) later in the week. I think that I enjoyed it more than the rest of my family, but spiced up I would definitely make this one again.

Family Score: 7 out of 10