My grandmother used to make manicotti for me when I was a kid, and I absolutely loved it. However, I never attempted making it until now. It seemed like a lot of work. When I was cooking for a recent dinner party, I decided that the time had come for me step up the plate and start stuffing some ricotta cheese spinach into these nifty little pasta tubes, and put this on my culinary resume. I was pleasantly surprised how easy it is to make Manicotti that is perfectly spiced, delicious, and a real crowd pleaser. Is it complicated, and a little time consuming to prepare? Yes. But if you follow these easy directions, you are going to find out how simple it is to make this impressive Italian classic.
NOTE: This is a totally vegetarian dish. Yet, I am also going to also tell you how to team it with a meat sauce if you so desire to go the “carnivore” route with this!
Manicotti ala Chef Bego
Ingredients:
The Sauce
– 1 large (28 ounce) can Diced Tomatoes
– 1 large (28 ounce) can Tomato Sauce
– 1 cup chopped Onion
– 1 chopped Red Bell Pepper
– 1/8 cup chopped Garlic
– 1/8 cup chopped Fresh Oregano
– 1/2 teaspoon Salt
– 1/2 teaspoon ground Black Pepper
– 1/4 cup Olive Oil
– 1/2 cup Red Wine (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chianti, whatever red wine you like!)
The Filling
– 15 ounces Ricotta Cheese
– 1 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
– 8 ounces shredded Mozzarella Cheese
– 2 cups of chopped fresh raw Spinach
– 1/2 cup chopped fresh Basil
– 2 Eggs
– 1 teaspoon Salt
– 1 teaspoon ground Black Pepper
– 1/2 teaspoon ground Nutmeg
Manicotti Pasta
– 1 box (14 individual) Manicotti Shells
Since there are three elements to making this incredible Italian dish, the first thing you need to do is to make the sauce. To do that: chop the onion, garlic and red bell pepper. Place them into a large pot, with the olive oil. Sauté the vegetables over medium heat, and when they begin to tenderize, add the chopped fresh oregano. Give it a stir for a minute or two, and let the oregano release its flavor, so that the leaves sauté for at least a minute. Add the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, red wine, salt, and pepper. Bring the sauce up to a slow boil, then immediately turn it down and simmer for 30 minutes, until it thickens. (This is identical to the sauce for my Spaghetti & Meatballs recipe. However, you do not need to cook this sauce for a full 45 minutes, as it is ultimately going to be baked in the oven.)
Once you have the sauce made, it is time to make the filling for the manicotti. In a large mixing bowl, add the ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, chopped raw spinach, chopped basil, eggs, salt, black pepper, and nutmeg. Start mixing the filling with a large mixing spoon.
NOTE: Eventually, you are going to have to get your hands into this cheese stuffing mixture, so if it is hard to blend together with a spoon, know that eventually you are going to have the opportunity to squeeze it together by hand.
Now it is time to cook the manicotti shells. Put a very large pot of water on the stove and bring to a full boil. I recommend pouring one ounce of olive oil in the boiling water, so that when you place the pasta shells in the water, they become coated with oil, and avoid sticking together. Boil the shells for six to seven minutes. You want them softened up, but still very firm. They will end up softening up further during the baking process.
When the pasta is cooked to a stiff el dente state, remove it from the stove, drain it, and soak it in cold water so that you can handle the shells.
NOTE: The manicotti shells come very neatly packaged in little plastic holder trays. Do not throw these trays away. Now that the pasta is cooked, use these little plastic holder trays to hold the pasta. You want it to retain its shape, and not flatten together with its inner walls sticking together.
In a very large baking pan, place one half inch of cooked sauce in the bottom of it using a ladle. You want the pan totally coated with sauce in preparation to adding the stuffed shells.
NOTE: Now it is time to fill the individual shells. Some recipes recommend using a pastry bag to fill the shells. Others instruct you to use a spoon to stuff the shells. Dismiss and ignore these suggestions. They aren’t going to work for this dense and chunky filling: “Forget about it!”
The only way to fill these delicate shells, and not break them is to stuff them by hand. Holding the individual shells in one hand, with your other hand, squish together the cheese mixture between your fingers once or twice to assure that the ingredients are mixed together. Carefully stuff the tube-like shells by hand. However, don’t rip apart the shredded spinach or turn it into “baby food!”
NOTE: The manicotti shells are sturdy in this half cooked state, but DO NOT OVERSTUFF them! They will rip apart if you do. After you do one or two of them, you will get the “hang of it.” Using your fingers, stuff small amounts of the cheese / spinach / basil mixture into the shells, until the entire shell is filled from end-to-end. Also, don’t overstuff them, because you have to make sure that you have enough cheese to stuff all 14.
As you stuff each of the 14 shells, one by one place them in the sauce covered pan, and neatly line them up. You may need a second pan to accomplish this. You don’t want to overcrowd the pan, and you do not want the stuffed manicotti shells to touch at all.
When you have all of the shells stuffed and placed in one or more sauce lined pans, ladle more sauce into the pan(s), until the stuffed manicotti is covered with sauce. Do not be alarmed if you have too much sauce, you should have a couple of extra cups of sauce left over. When you serve the manicotti, you can put extra sauce on top of the stuffed manicotti tubes as you place them on individual plates.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the uncovered pans into the oven, and bake for 35 minutes.
NOTE: I mentioned the option of making meat sauce to serve on top of the manicotti, if you so choose. To do this, brown one-half pound of ground beef, turkey, or pork, drain it, and add it to the extra sauce. If you are having a dinner party this gives you the option of serving this dish as a vegetarian entrée, or as one with meat.
Make certain that you warm up the leftover sauce for when the 35 minutes baking time is complete. Carefully serve the cooked, stuffed manicotti tubes onto plates, and spoon extra marinara (or meat) sauce on top.
NOTE: Make sure that you use a metal spatula to serve this pasta dish. The plastic or synthetic ones are too flimsy to support the weight of the cooked manicotti shells, and you will have a mess on your hands. Be very careful doing this.
I realize that this seems like a long and complicated recipe, but there is nothing difficult about it. I totally recommend that you tackle this recipe if you want an impressive and delicious Italian main course. I recommend that you plan on people wanting two manicotti shells apiece. This recipe yields 14 manicotti tubes, so it easily serves six or seven people. Once you make this incredibly good marinara sauce, with this delicious cheese filling, ordering manicotti in a restaurant will pale in comparison. I guarantee, this recipe trumps all the competitors!
NOTE: This is a totally vegetarian dish. Yet, I am also going to also tell you how to team it with a meat sauce if you so desire to go the “carnivore” route with this!
Manicotti ala Chef Bego
Ingredients:
The Sauce
– 1 large (28 ounce) can Diced Tomatoes
– 1 large (28 ounce) can Tomato Sauce
– 1 cup chopped Onion
– 1 chopped Red Bell Pepper
– 1/8 cup chopped Garlic
– 1/8 cup chopped Fresh Oregano
– 1/2 teaspoon Salt
– 1/2 teaspoon ground Black Pepper
– 1/4 cup Olive Oil
– 1/2 cup Red Wine (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chianti, whatever red wine you like!)
The Filling
– 15 ounces Ricotta Cheese
– 1 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
– 8 ounces shredded Mozzarella Cheese
– 2 cups of chopped fresh raw Spinach
– 1/2 cup chopped fresh Basil
– 2 Eggs
– 1 teaspoon Salt
– 1 teaspoon ground Black Pepper
– 1/2 teaspoon ground Nutmeg
Manicotti Pasta
– 1 box (14 individual) Manicotti Shells
Since there are three elements to making this incredible Italian dish, the first thing you need to do is to make the sauce. To do that: chop the onion, garlic and red bell pepper. Place them into a large pot, with the olive oil. Sauté the vegetables over medium heat, and when they begin to tenderize, add the chopped fresh oregano. Give it a stir for a minute or two, and let the oregano release its flavor, so that the leaves sauté for at least a minute. Add the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, red wine, salt, and pepper. Bring the sauce up to a slow boil, then immediately turn it down and simmer for 30 minutes, until it thickens. (This is identical to the sauce for my Spaghetti & Meatballs recipe. However, you do not need to cook this sauce for a full 45 minutes, as it is ultimately going to be baked in the oven.)
Once you have the sauce made, it is time to make the filling for the manicotti. In a large mixing bowl, add the ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, chopped raw spinach, chopped basil, eggs, salt, black pepper, and nutmeg. Start mixing the filling with a large mixing spoon.
NOTE: Eventually, you are going to have to get your hands into this cheese stuffing mixture, so if it is hard to blend together with a spoon, know that eventually you are going to have the opportunity to squeeze it together by hand.
Now it is time to cook the manicotti shells. Put a very large pot of water on the stove and bring to a full boil. I recommend pouring one ounce of olive oil in the boiling water, so that when you place the pasta shells in the water, they become coated with oil, and avoid sticking together. Boil the shells for six to seven minutes. You want them softened up, but still very firm. They will end up softening up further during the baking process.
When the pasta is cooked to a stiff el dente state, remove it from the stove, drain it, and soak it in cold water so that you can handle the shells.
NOTE: The manicotti shells come very neatly packaged in little plastic holder trays. Do not throw these trays away. Now that the pasta is cooked, use these little plastic holder trays to hold the pasta. You want it to retain its shape, and not flatten together with its inner walls sticking together.
In a very large baking pan, place one half inch of cooked sauce in the bottom of it using a ladle. You want the pan totally coated with sauce in preparation to adding the stuffed shells.
NOTE: Now it is time to fill the individual shells. Some recipes recommend using a pastry bag to fill the shells. Others instruct you to use a spoon to stuff the shells. Dismiss and ignore these suggestions. They aren’t going to work for this dense and chunky filling: “Forget about it!”
The only way to fill these delicate shells, and not break them is to stuff them by hand. Holding the individual shells in one hand, with your other hand, squish together the cheese mixture between your fingers once or twice to assure that the ingredients are mixed together. Carefully stuff the tube-like shells by hand. However, don’t rip apart the shredded spinach or turn it into “baby food!”
NOTE: The manicotti shells are sturdy in this half cooked state, but DO NOT OVERSTUFF them! They will rip apart if you do. After you do one or two of them, you will get the “hang of it.” Using your fingers, stuff small amounts of the cheese / spinach / basil mixture into the shells, until the entire shell is filled from end-to-end. Also, don’t overstuff them, because you have to make sure that you have enough cheese to stuff all 14.
As you stuff each of the 14 shells, one by one place them in the sauce covered pan, and neatly line them up. You may need a second pan to accomplish this. You don’t want to overcrowd the pan, and you do not want the stuffed manicotti shells to touch at all.
When you have all of the shells stuffed and placed in one or more sauce lined pans, ladle more sauce into the pan(s), until the stuffed manicotti is covered with sauce. Do not be alarmed if you have too much sauce, you should have a couple of extra cups of sauce left over. When you serve the manicotti, you can put extra sauce on top of the stuffed manicotti tubes as you place them on individual plates.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the uncovered pans into the oven, and bake for 35 minutes.
NOTE: I mentioned the option of making meat sauce to serve on top of the manicotti, if you so choose. To do this, brown one-half pound of ground beef, turkey, or pork, drain it, and add it to the extra sauce. If you are having a dinner party this gives you the option of serving this dish as a vegetarian entrée, or as one with meat.
Make certain that you warm up the leftover sauce for when the 35 minutes baking time is complete. Carefully serve the cooked, stuffed manicotti tubes onto plates, and spoon extra marinara (or meat) sauce on top.
NOTE: Make sure that you use a metal spatula to serve this pasta dish. The plastic or synthetic ones are too flimsy to support the weight of the cooked manicotti shells, and you will have a mess on your hands. Be very careful doing this.
I realize that this seems like a long and complicated recipe, but there is nothing difficult about it. I totally recommend that you tackle this recipe if you want an impressive and delicious Italian main course. I recommend that you plan on people wanting two manicotti shells apiece. This recipe yields 14 manicotti tubes, so it easily serves six or seven people. Once you make this incredibly good marinara sauce, with this delicious cheese filling, ordering manicotti in a restaurant will pale in comparison. I guarantee, this recipe trumps all the competitors!