There are so many things to love about this meal. It’s elegant enough for a special occasion, but it’s a sure family pleaser too. It’s wonderfully hearty and warms you up on chilly nights. And best of all, you get a lot of bang for your buck. It’s basically just pasta, sauce, ricotta cheese, and a few other pantry basics. Sometimes I find dishes like manicotti to be a little bland, but this is anything but. The garlic and fresh parsley are fabulous at turning up the flavor, but my favorite ingredient in this version is the freshly grated nutmeg. It’s just what the filling needs to take it from good to great. This is definitely one of those meals that can easily make the jump from restaurant to home.
If you’re worried about the process of filling those manicotti shells, don’t be. Using a zip top bag to pipe it right into the shells makes it super easy. If you’re making this for the family then you could even get the kids involved by letting them do a few. Don’t sweat it if a few of the manicotti tear during the filling process – just place them into the dish tear side down and keep going – no one will ever know the difference.
Baked Manicotti
serves 6
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 jar of your favorite marinara sauce
1 box manicotti shells
4 cloves garlic, minced fine
4 cups whole milk ricotta
1 cup Parmesan cheese
6 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, chopped fine
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
2 eggs beaten
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Grease a 9×13 baking dish with 1 tablespoon butter. Spread 1/2 cup marinara sauce in the bottom of the dish. Set aside.
Bring 6 quarts of water to boil. Add manicotti and cook for 8 minutes. Drain and rinse with cool water. You want the pasta to be undercooked since it will be filled and baked.
Heat remaining butter in a small skillet over medium low heat. Add garlic and cook while stirring frequently for 4 minutes. Don’t let the garlic burn or it becomes bitter. Transfer garlic to a large mixing bowl. Add ricotta, parmesan, 5 tablespoons parsley, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and eggs. Stir well to combine.
Spoon about 1 1/2 cups of ricotta mixture into a small zip top bag. Snip off one corner with scissors. Slightly squeeze manicotti shell to open, and pipe filling from one end. Turn manicotti around and repeat until the manicotti is full. (There is plenty of filling, so you can be a little heavy handed.) Transfer stuffed manicotti to prepared baking dish. Spread remaining marinara sauce over manicotti and sprinkle with Parmesan.
Bake 20 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with remaining parsley. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
Adapted from Saveur Magazine
Other posts you may like:
No related posts.
