Like many popular Italian dishes, baked ziti is an Americanized version of Italian ideas. 

It is the culmination of the Italian love of pasta and the American love of casseroles they can easily pop in the oven. While there are some traces of baked pasta dishes in Italian history, the baked ziti, featuring loads of mozzarella, ricotta, Parmesan and tomato sauce, is unique to America.

Baked ziti is an affordable, easy-to-make dish that can feed a lot of people. Every Christmas, any Italian American family worth their weight in mozzarella will make baked ziti or do that thing with a bunch of fish, but I personally never got into that. 

My mother, who prides herself on her 80% Italian DNA results from Ancestry.com and speaks fluent Italian (but only in curse words), made lasagna every single Christmas. But baked ziti was reserved for a far more special day: my birthday. 

Since my mother has been gone, we have unfortunately had a few ziti-less birthdays. This year, that changed. My sister took it upon herself to get the recipe from my mother — who isn’t dead but just lives in Maryland now — and decided she and I would make it together to celebrate my 23rd birthday. 

Eating baked ziti, like all good meals, begins with the smell from the oven. Your house will be filled with the aroma of a mix of garlic, onion, tomato and that beautiful melty cheese. If your mouth isn’t watering when the baked ziti is scooped onto your plate, you either messed up or something is deeply wrong with your brain. 

The first bite will be pure bliss. You can taste the tangy richness of the tomato sauce, thick with garlic and Italian herbs, followed by the creamy melt of mozzarella and ricotta, whose slight saltiness contrasts with the subtle sweetness of the sauce. A sprinkle of Parmesan adds a sharp, nutty finish, balancing the richness of the other ingredients. 

As you chew, the layers of pasta, cheese and sauce mingle in your mouth like Italian mothers after church, each bite blending in a comforting wave of flavor, almost like a hug from your grandmother.

Most food can be eaten alone, but not baked ziti. If you’re not laughing with your mouth full, hearing your sister complain about someone at work, watching your cousin go on their phone while their aunt yells at them or feeling your dad put his hand on your shoulder as he braces himself to stand up to get another plate, then you’re not really eating baked ziti.