Stuffed Ziti Fritta

Fill large pot with 8 cups water and place pot on stovetop over medium-high heat. Bring water to rolling boil, then stir in ½ teaspoon sea salt.
Bring salted water to rolling boil, then add 8 ounces dry ziti. Stir to incorporate, then boil pasta, reducing cook time on pasta packaging by 2 minutes.
After boiling pasta for recommended length of time, pour pasta and water into colander. Rinse pasta with colander and drain well, then return pasta to pot.
Drizzle 1 tablespoon olive oil over pasta and toss or gently stir to coat noodles in oil. Set aside.

While pasta boils, add ¼ cup ricotta cheese, ¼ cup finely grated parmesan, ¼ cup softened cream cheese, ¼ cup finely grated mozzarella, ½ teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning to medium mixing bowl. Use fork to mix ingredients together until completely combined, making sure to break up any large clumps or chunks of cheese.

Transfer cheese mixture to piping bag. Carefully work cheese mixture down toward tip end of piping bag, then twist piping bag closed. Alternately, transfer cheese mixture to food-safe plastic bag and work cheese mixture into one corner of bag. Twist bag closed, then snip off very small piece of bag to turn corner into piping tip.
Gently pipe cheese filling into one end of one ziti noodle, filling noodle halfway. Flip noodle and fill remaining half of noodle from other end. Place filled noodle on baking sheet and set aside. Repeat process until all noodles have been filled.
Once all noodles have been filled and transferred to baking sheet, place baking sheet in freezer and freeze noodles 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, remove baking sheet from freezer and set aside. Return pan to freezer as needed if stuffed ziti become too warm.
Add 1 cup all-purpose flour to shallow bowl. Set aside.
Crack 2 large eggs directly into second shallow bowl. Whisk eggs together vigorously until well combined. Set aside.
Add 2 cups Italian breadcrumbs to third shallow bowl. Set aside.
Roll one stuffed ziti in all-purpose flour, coating all sides and both ends completely. Shake any excess flour back into bowl.
Use fork to lower floured ziti into egg mixture, coating all sides and both ends completely. Hold dipped ziti over egg mixture, allowing any excess egg to drip back into bowl.
Place ziti in bowl of breadcrumbs and roll ziti to coat all sides and both ends completely. Gently press ziti into breadcrumbs as needed to help breadcrumbs stick.
Shake any excess breadcrumbs back into bowl and return breaded ziti to baking sheet. Repeat process until all ziti have been breaded.

Place 2 to 4 layers of paper towels on flat surface and place wire cooling rack over paper towels. Set aside.
Place large skillet on stovetop over medium heat. Add enough neutral oil to skillet to create ½-inch-thick layer of oil across entire skillet. Heat skillet until oil is between 325° and 375° Fahrenheit (see Notes).
Use slotted spoon to gently add 5 or 6 breaded ziti to skillet. Fry ziti 1 minute, then flip ziti over and fry ziti until golden brown, approximately 1 to 2 minutes more.
Transfer fried ziti to wire cooling rack and repeat process until all breaded ziti have been fried.

Once all ziti have been fried, transfer ziti to serving plates or platter. If desired, sprinkle finely chopped parsley over ziti and serve warm with alfredo sauce and/or marinara.