Basic Manicotti
Basic Manicotti
This is a basic cheese filled and baked manicotti. I did not boil the noodles first, I filled them dry and they cooked in the sauce. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 1 box manicotti shells, (14 shells)
- 3 cups Ricotta cheese, or cottage cheese, (24 oz / 1 lb 8 oz / 680 g)
- 250 grams Mozzarella Cheese, shredded, (8 oz)
- 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- 2 eggs, chicken or duck
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- salt and pepper, as desired, to taste
- 4 cups spaghetti sauce, Shortcut
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, add the all the Ricotta, Mozzarella, and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, eggs, parsley, salt and pepper. Mix together.
- Preheat your oven to 180 C (350 F) and get out a 9x13 baking dish. Add 1 cup of spaghetti sauce to the bottom of the baking dish and make sure it is spread out.
- Using either a piping bag with a nozzle that will fit inside the end of a manacotti shell, or a small spoon that will fit inside (this is the method I used), pipe the cheese filling into a dry manicotti shell or fill with a small spoon, and place that into the baking dish. Continue to fill shells and arrange in the baking dish.
- Top with remaining spaghetti sauce and sprinkle on the remaining Parmesan cheese.
- As a Variant, sprinkle with some shredded Mozzarella cheese then top with slices of Provolone cheese (recommended and is the method I used).
- Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 15 minutes more.
- Serve and enjoy.
Notes
I will price this when I make it the first time to sort out the ingredient amounts. For now I will say Low cost per serving.
Shortcut: Spaghetti Sauce.
Variants: 1. Add onion and or garlic powder to the filling. 2. Add 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg to the filling. 3. Add 1/4 cup Marscapone cheese to the filling. 4. Use a Alfredo sauce instead of a tomato sauce. 5. Sprinkle some shredded Mozzarella cheese on top of the sauce and top that with sliced Provolone (highly recommended).
Adapted from an internet recipe.
The Real Person!
The Real Person!
I verified the ingredient amounts and the dry method of using the shells, everything is 100% perfect. This dish was well liked! Highly recommended.