Recipe 19: Manicotti

 I finally made it through all of the recipes that I made in Oregon and am now onto the first recipe that I made in Texas.  I asked one of my roommates what he wanted and he requested Manicotti, so that is what I made.

Here is a picture of the completed recipe:

 

And here is the recipe that I used.

Ingredients

• 1 pint part-skim ricotta cheese
• 8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• salt to taste
• ground black pepper to taste
• 1 (16 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
• 5 1/2 ounces manicotti pasta

Directions

1. Cook manicotti in boiling water until done. Drain, and rinse with cold water.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
3. In a large bowl, combine ricotta, mozzarella, and 1/2 cup Parmesan, eggs, parsley, and salt and pepper. Mix well.
4. Pour 1/2 cup sauce into an 11x17 inch baking dish. Fill each manicotti shell with 3 tablespoons cheese mixture, and arrange over sauce . Pour remaining sauce over top, and sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese.
5. Bake 45 minutes, or until bubbly.

Changes

I didn't make any changes to this recipe.  It was pretty straightforward.  The only thing that is worth talking about is how I filled the manicotti.  This was very similar to the stuffed shells that I made previously.  To fill the manicotti I filled a plastic bag with the filling and the cut a small hole in one corner, which allowed me to squeeze the filling.

The Process

I first mixed the filling together, which is shown below.  While I was doing this I also boiled the manicotti to cook it up.

Here is the plastic bag with the filling and a hole cut in the corner.

Here is the manicotti filled on top of the sauce.

And then finally here is the manicotti in the oven and ready to cook.

This was a really simple recipe to make and was pretty good, and it seemed like my roommate kind of liked it.