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1 Preheat the oven to 350F (unless you're making this dish well in advance of when you actually plan on serving it). Slice off the top and bottom of the onion; halve and remove the peel. Dice up the remaining onion into small bits. Slice off the stem end of each garlic clove and discard; smash each clove with the side of a chef's knife to loosen the peel; remove the peel. Mince up the naked garlic cloves until fairly fine. Peel the carrot and slice away the butt end; finely chop up the remainder.

2 Add a tablespoon or so of olive oil to a medium-sized pot, and heat on medium. Add the minced garlic and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula; sauté the garlic in the oil for a minute, until the garlic gives off its aroma. Slide in the chopped onion and carrot and sauté for another 5 minutes, until the veggies have softened. (If things seem to be sticking too much to the pan, add a little more olive oil.) Dump in the two cans of tomatoes, along with the herbs (if you're using the fresh basil, shred the leaves by hand and drop them in) and sugar. Stir and turn up the heat to bring the pot to a bubble. Once it's really burbling, bring the heat down to low and let the mixture cook at a simmer for 15 minutes; stir from time to time, and use your wooden spoon/spatula to break up the tomatoes as they soften. Use a hand blender or regular blender to puree the sauce. (If you're using a regular blender, work in batches. Fill the blender container only about halfway, pop on the lid, top with a folded-over towel, and hold down the towel/lid while you blend.) Season the pureed sauce with salt and pepper to taste, as well as crushed red pepper if you're using it. I generally find I have to add about a teaspoon of salt, ¼ tsp of ground pepper and a few shakes of the crushed red pepper bottle, but use this as a guide only; canned tomatoes can vary widely in their saltiness, as do personal tolerances for salt and heat.

3 Start a big pot of water boiling for your pasta. While you're waiting for the water to boil, prep the breadcrumb topping. First, trim away the crusts from the bread. Now if your bread is already fairly dry and stale, just start chopping, or cube it and throw into a food processor (I love my mini-processor for this). If the bread still has some moisture in it, on the other hand, throw it in the toaster to very lightly toast it dry before chopping. You can chop the bread to as coarse or as fine a crumb as you like. Once you have your breadcrumbs, transfer to a mixing bowl, and drizzle with 1/2 tsp. or so of olive oil. Add the parmesan, salt and a sprinkle of fresh ground pepper, and stir well to combine.

4 Once the water's at a full boil, dump in the pasta and cook according to the package directions. You'll want to undercook the pasta just slightly -- there should be just a bit of opaqueness in the center of the pasta when you bit into it. Drain in a colander, giving the colander a few hearty tosses to get rid of as much water as you can. Return the drained pasta to the pot. Stir in 2/3 of the sauce as well as ricotta, plus half the mozzarella.

5 Lightly grease an 8"x12" baking dish. Pour in the pasta, spreading it out more or less evenly. Pour the extra sauce over the pasta. Sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella, then top the whole thing off with a sprinkle of your seasoned breadcrumbs. At this point, you can cover the pasta and refrigerate to bake the dish later in the day if you like.

6 To finish, bake at 350F for about 30 minutes, until nicely browned on top.

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