Stuffed And Baked Italian Manicotti Food

MANICOTTI WITH ITALIAN SAUSAGE

Steps:

• Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large saucepot over medium heat. Cook the sausage, breaking it up into small pieces, until browned and caramelized, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the sausage to a paper towel-lined plate and reserve for the filling.
• Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil to the pot and cook the onion until softened and translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute (the tomato paste will turn a deep maroon color). Add the crushed tomatoes, sugar, bay leaves, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and a pinch of black pepper. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to low and cook for 30 minutes. Melt the butter into the sauce, remove the bay leaves and stir in 1/3 cup of basil. Remove the sauce from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature, 40 minutes.
• For the filling: mix together the ricotta, reserved sausage, the remaining 1/3 cup basil, 1 1/2 cups mozzarella, 1 1/2 cups Parmesan, 1 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste. Fold in 1 cup of the cooled tomato sauce. Place the filling in a large piping bag and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the manicotti shells until they have softened slightly but still hold their tubular shape, 5 minutes.
• Pour half of the tomato sauce into a broiler-proof 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Fill each shell with the ricotta mixture. Place the filled shells in the baking dish. Pipe any extra filling along the ends of the shells in the dish. Top with the remaining tomato sauce and sprinkle the remaining 1 1/2 cups mozzarella and 1 cup Parmesan over the top. Cover the baking dish with foil and bake until the sauce begins to bubble, 40 minutes. Remove the dish from the oven, remove the foil and increase the oven to 425 degrees F. Put the manicotti back into the oven to bake until the cheese is browned and bubbling, about 10 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving.

MANICOTTI

Steps:

• Cook manicotti in boiling water until done. Drain, and rinse with cold water.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In a large bowl, combine ricotta, mozzarella, and 1/2 cup Parmesan, eggs, parsley, and salt and pepper. Mix well.
• 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.
• Bake 45 minutes, or until bubbly.

EASY, STUFFED MANICOTTI

Steps:

• Spread 2 tblsps of sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 pan.
• Combine first 8 ingredients together in a bowl.
• Take shells and stuff with the meat mixture.(I find it easier to use pastry bags filled with the meat mixture to stuff the shells or you can cut the end of a sandwich baggie and stuff them that way. Less messy and much faster.).
• Place shells in pan and pour remaining sauce of shells.
• Bake at 350 for 45 minutes, remove from the oven and top with mozzeralla cheese. Return to oven and bake and additional 15 minutes.
• Remove and enjoy.
• Goes wonderfully with a tossed salad and garlic bread.

STUFFED AND BAKED ITALIAN MANICOTTI

Steps:

• Brown the ground round and lightly rinse with hot water. Set aside. Brown the mild Italian Sausage and rinse in the same way.
• Place both meats into a food processor and process until fine and uniform.
• Take 1/3 of the meat mixture and place into the crockpot. Add all of the ingredients except for the ricotta, 1 tsp of Italian seasonings and 1 teaspoon of tarragon to the meat in the Crockpot. Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours. Stirring occasionally. Salt to taste.
• Take the remaining 2/3 of the meat mixture and mix the 12 oz to 16 oz of ricotta, 1 teaspoons of Italian seasonings and 1 teaspoons tarragon. Mix well. Place into the fridge until sauce is nearly done.
• When sauce is nearly finished and when preparing to assemble:.
• Remove meat and ricotta mixture from refrigerator and let stand for 15 minutes, stir and place into a zip lock bag. Work meat and ricotta until nearly room temperature.
• Bring appropriate amount of water to a boil and cook manicotti to product specs. but just until the pasta is uniformly softened, but not completely cooked. If over cooked the shells will tear when trying to stuff. Put about 1/2 " of sauce into the bottom of a 9" x 13" casserole dish.
• Then snip a bottom corner from the bag with meat mixture, approximately 1/2 " in diameter.
• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Place the snipped end of the bag into one end of a cooked manicotti shell and squeeze the mixture into the shell until it is full but not splitting. If it splits just place split side down into pan and go on to the next. It takes some time to make this a technique.
• Place the cooked Manicotti staggered into the dish.
• Cover with more of the sauce to your liking.
• Cover with the Parmesan or save the Parmesan until serving and use as a garnish.
• Bake for 30 minutes.
• Serve with a green salad and sour dough bread, topped with butter and minced garlic and broiled .

STUFFED MANICOTTI

Steps:

• Par-boil manicotti noodles, drain.
• Place in a bowl of cold water to prevent sticking.
• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Combine eggs, 1/4 cup of the parmesan cheese, 1/2 of the mozzarella,cheddar and ricotta cheeses and the seasonings.
• Drain shells, pat dry with paper towels.
• Fill shells with cheese mixture, spread 1/2 cup of the prepared spaghetti sauce over bottom of shallow 3 quart baking dish.
• Arrange filled shells over sauce; cover with remaining sauce and spoon remaining ricotta over each shell.
• Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella, cheddar and parmesan cheeses.
• Bake covered loosely with foil for 40 minutes.

BAKED MANICOTTI

Steps:

• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
• Saute onions, garlic, ground sausage, and beef until meat is well browned and crumbled.
• Prepare Manicotti shells as per package directions except cut the cook time in HALF.
• Drain and cover with cool water to stop the cooking process and prevent the shells from cracking.
• To the ground pork/beef mixture add the spinach and ricotta cheese.
• When the mixture is cool, add the beaten eggs.
• Spread 1/4 cup spaghetti sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.
• Gently drain the manicotti shells and carefully stuff each one with the meat and cheese mixture; place shells in prepared dish.
• Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
• Prepare the white sauce by melting the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.
• Stir in flour and chicken bouillon.
• Increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring constantly, until it begins to bubble.
• Stir in half and half and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.
• Cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
• Remove from heat and stir in parsley.
• Pour or ladle the sauce evenly over the stuffed shells.
• Stir the basil into the remaining spaghetti sauce.
• Carefully pour or ladle spaghetti sauce over the white sauce, trying to layer the sauces without mixing.
• Cover and bake for 40 minutes.
• Remove from oven, uncover and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
• Bake, uncovered, for 10 minutes more.

STUFFED MANICOTTI

Steps:

• Preheat Oven 350*F.
• Lightly coat a 9x13 baking dish w/ cooking spray.
• Cook MANICOTTI according to package directions, less 1-2 minutes - MANICOTTI should be al dente - drain and rinse with cold water until cool. Remove to paper towels to dry. Shells are easier to stuff if cool.
• *Prepare BECHAMEL Sauce*.
• In a Med saucepan, melt the BUTTER over medium heat. Add the FLOUR and whisk until smooth (2 mins).
• Gradually add the MILK, whisking constantly until the sauce thickens (5-10 mins). DO NOT BOIL Sauce.
• Remove sauce from heat and stir in the SALT, PEPPER & NUTMEG. (Sauce can be prepared & refrigerated for up to 3 days; excellent cream sauce for any pasta dish.).
• In a large bowl mix together RICOTTA, 3/4 cup PARMESAN, Egg YOLKS, BASIL, SALT & PEPPER and any OPTIONAL Ingredient.
• Stuff the MANICOTTI (I use either a baby spoon or a small butter knife, stuff from both ends, don't over stuff, should have enough for at least 10-11 shells).
• Reserve 1/4-1/3 Cup of the BECHAMEL Sauce, then layer the remaining BECHAMEL Sauce in the bottom of the baking dish, swirl 1/4-1/3 Cup tomato sauce into the BECHAMEL.
• Lay the stuffed MANICOTTI side-by-side in dish on top of the sauce.
• Top the MANICOTTI with the remaining tomato sauce, covering the pasta completely; swirl the reserved BECHAMEL Sauce on top.
• Lightly cover with foil and Bake for 30 minutes; remove foil and bake for another 15 minutes.
• Sprinkle with 1/4 Cup PARMESAN and bake for another 5-15 mins, until bubbly in the center and cheese is melted.
• Let sit for 5-10 mins before serving.

CHEESE STUFFED MANICOTTI

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F
• Bring 5 quarts of water to a rapid boil. For best results, add 1 tablespoons of salt.
• Add pasta and stir; return to rapid boil.
• Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 4 to 6 minutes.
• Remove noodles from boiling water and place them in a bowl of cold water. Tubes will be firm; making them easy to fill but will finish cooking and become soft and tender while cooking in the oven.
• In a large bowl stir together ricotta cheese, 1-1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, eggs, parsley and seasonings.
• Pour enough spaghetti sauce in the bottom of a 13x9-inch pan to just cover the bottom of the pan.
• Spoon about 1/3 cup cheese mixture into each pasta tube; place in the pre-sauced pan.
• Pour the remainder of sauce over filled pasta; sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.
• Cover with foil; bake 35 minutes or until hot and bubbly.
• Remove from the oven and serve.

THE BEST ITALIAN MANICOTTI

Steps:

• Ina large skillet, brown ground beef, then add garlic and onion, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 10 minutes and drain.
• Add tomatoes, and the tomato liquid, mushrooms, fennel seed, basil, Italian seasoning, seasoned salt, and pepper and stir to mix well.
• Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• In a seperate bowl, stir together well drained spinach, half the parmesan, cottage cheese, nutmeg, and pepper.
• In a sprayed 9x13 inch baking dish, spoon 1/3 of the beef sauce evenly over bottom of dish.
• Fill manicotti shells with spinach mixture and place on beef layer in baking dish.
• Repeat until all spinach mixture has been used in manicotti shells.
• Pour remaining beef sauce evenly over manicotti shells to cover.
• Sprinkle remaining parmesan cheese over top.
• Cover and bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until shells are tender.

BEEF-STUFFED MANICOTTI

Steps:

• Brown ground beef & drain.
• Cook manicotti using package directions.
• Do not drain. Run cold water over it until water in pan is cold; leave manicotti in water until needed.
• Meanwhile, combine ground beef, egg, mozzarella, bread, milk, salt & pepper. Stuff each manicotti shell. Place in greased 13x9x2" baking pan. Pour spaghetti sauce over top, cover with foil & bake in 350 degree oven for 50 minutes. (1 hour if made ahead & chilled.).
• Pass grated parmesan cheese when serving.

STUFFED MANICOTTI

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, saute onion and green pepper in olive oil until tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Stir in all remaining sauce ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Uncover, simmer 10-15 minutes longer or until thickened. , Meanwhile, for manicotti, cook beef and onion in a skillet until the meat is no longer pink. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Drain; cool slightly. , Squeeze spinach thoroughly to remove excess water; add to the skillet with 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, eggs, oregano, salt and pepper. Mix well. Refrigerate 1-1/2 cups of the sauce (makes 4 cups), for another recipe. , Pour 1 cup of the remaining sauce into a 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Stuff manicotti with the meat mixture; arrange over the sauce. Pour another 1-1/2 cups of sauce on top. Sprinkle with the mozzarella and remaining Parmesan cheese. , Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until a thermometer reads 160°.