SYRACUSE, N.Y. — In this week’s, “What’s on the Menu?”, segment on Weekend Today in Central York, viewers learn how to make The Great New York State Fair Bake!

Watch the clip above for step-by-step instructions.

From Spatchcock Funk:

The Great New York State Fair Bake

We’re not sure what we like better, remembering some good times, or making the memories in the first place. For us, an event that deserves a first place ribbon every time? The GREAT New York State Fair. From the people to the animals, to the games, rides and cool things to do and see, we can’t get enough of it. Truthfully, we wish it was year-round. One of the highlights is the focus on all of the New York State foods there, from the gorgeous butter sculpture and 25 cent milk to Ye Old Ox Roast, Gyros and corn dogs, we’re all in. We wanted to make a dish to get us excited for this year’s Fair, and to remember past ones, and this dish is easy to make. Like the Fair, it’s a crowd pleaser. We got all sorts of stuff from the Fair itself: some plump, juicy Giannelli sausages, 1,000 Island cheese curds, peppers and onions from the flat top, stringy mozzarella to remind us of the cheese sticks we love, and some vodka sauce from It’s a Utica Thing (they’ve got two stands at the Fair and are always worth a visit). If you need to fuel yourself up for a day of people watching, dancing, carrying on and petting animals, this one’s for you. We’ll see you at the pig races, baby!

Yields: 12 Servings

Time: 1 Hour (30-45 minutes baking time time)

Ingredients

1 1/4 lb grilled Giannelli sausage cut into discs (we used sweet, but hot works too)

2 green bell peppers, diced and sauteed

2 vidalia onions, diced and sauteed

1 lb of rigatoni pasta, cooked and drained

1 lb of New York State cheese curds

8 oz of shredded New York State mozzarella cheese

1 16 oz jar of It’s a Utica Thing vodka sauce

1 Tbsp Italian seasoning

Directions

Take a big mixing bowl and throw the pasta, peppers, cut sausage and the cheese curds in, making sure to break the cheese curds up a little bit

Mix all those things together evenly

Add in the vodka sauce and mix evenly again

Cover the top with all that delicious mozz cheese

Evenly sprinkle the Italian seasoning on top

Pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan, and bake at 375, for 20 minutes until cheese is golden brown and ready to go

Get into the Fair!

Bonus Tip: You can use different sauces in this, it’s basically a baked ziti, and there should be enough to have a bowl while you’re cooking it. This is great to freeze to heat up during the colder months when you want to remind yourself about the great NYS Fair!