Cheese-Stuffed Manicotti

We LOVE Italian food.  Pizza, lasagna, spaghetti, alfredo...it's pretty much an anything goes when it comes to Italian food. No...it's not exactly "diet" food.  But, considering the fact that millions of Italians have lived on this food for centuries and they still have relatively LOW stats for obesity and heart disease, it's always going to be served in our house!

From the pantheon of choices, one always stands out as a "knock-it-outta-da-park" for our home...Cheese-Stuffed Manicotti!! It's loaded with outstanding flavor, and is quite versatile...you can use other types of pasta (such as shells), you can top it with traditional tomato-based sauce or a delicate alfredo...whatever floats your boat.

So, today we're doing Cheese-Stuffed Manicotti.  I'll include some alterations for the filling, too...the more varieties, the better the recipe!!


Cheese-Stuffed Manicotti

1 box manicotti pasta shells

1 32oz container ricotta cheese

2 large eggs

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

1 24oz jar pasta sauce (I use Prego Garden Harvest chunky w/tomato, onion & garlic)

1/4 cup dried parsley flakes

1 tsp ground nutmeg (yeah, really...you'll have to trust me on this one)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease sides and bottom of a 9" x 11" x 2" baking dish, and set aside.

In a large Dutch oven (5-6 quart), bring water to a boil.  Do NOT salt the water (you won't need it).  Cook until JUST done (about 10 minutes, total).  Drain the noodles, then rinse with COLD water (it stops the cooking process, and makes them much easier to handle when stuffing them).

While your pasta is cooking, let's make the filling...in a large bowl, combine ricotta cheese, 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese, eggs, parsley, nutmeg, salt and pepper, mixing well. Spoon contents into a large piping bag (you do NOT need a piping tip for this).  Alternatively, you CAN use a "ziploc" bag...you just need one that does NOT have the pleated corners that square the bottom out.  Set aside.

Open the pasta sauce, and spoon enough into your baking dish to coat the bottom.  It will take about 1/3 of the jar.

Time to assemble - Once you have your piping bag filled, snip off about 1/2", start filling your manicotti.  Pipe it half full, turn the pasta around, and fill the remainder.  Lay in the baking pan, touching.  Continue until all pasta is used.  Pour remaining pasta sauce over the top of the manicotti, spreading as needed to cover it.  Top with remaining 1 1/4 cups mozzarella cheese.

Bake for 40 minutes.  Check for doneness, and if not browned, turn your oven to Hi Broil, and cook an additional 3-4 minutes (just enough to brown the cheese on top).  Remove from oven, and allow to stand for 10 minutes (this allows the filling to firm up).

Serve with your choice of bread and a nice salad!


NOTES - Variations

1) Cook 1/2lb ground Italian sausage until well crumbled.  Add 1/2 to the filling mixture, and the remainder to the pasta sauce.

2) Use alfredo sauce instead of pasta sauce.  Add 1/4 cup to the filling mixture, and the remainder the same way as the pasta sauce. Take this up another notch by adding 1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken scattered over the pasta, then top with alfredo & mozzarella and bake as directed.

3) To lower the calorie content a bit, you can substitute an equal amount of small-curd 2% milkfat cottage cheese for the ricotta cheese.  If you do this, only use 1 egg, and use a potato masher to crush the curds when mixing.

4) Change up the type of pasta - use jumbo shells instead of manicotti. In fact, you could even make this super kid friendly...use elbow macaroni, once cooked and cooled, mix it directly into the ricotta mixture, pour over the sauce on the bottom, top with sauce and mozzarella cheese, and bake as directed.


That's all it takes to put a fantastic slice of Italy on your dinner table, folks!  ENJOY!!