Chef’s Quick Manicotti

Working with soft cheeses and limp large manicotti noodles is a recipe for a mess in some kitchens. Let’s look at a quick way to get the noodles stuffed with the cheese mix and ready for baking. I like simple and easy in my home kitchen.

Stuffing the manicotti can be an easy task if you think about the tools you have on hand. I am going to prepare my manicotti cheese blend and use a plastic zip-lock bag with a corner snipped off to pipe the cheese blend into the uncooked tubes of manicotti. I will form a piping bag out of the ziplock baggie and this will give me the advantage of being able to easily fill the pasta. I will lay the stuffed uncooked manicotti into a liquidy pasta sauce and let the sauce absorb into the manicotti casing as it bakes. Let’s bake some manicotti using my quick fill technique. My gal eagerly awaits the outcome. I do believe she has had some of these in the past.

 

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups whole milk ricotta cheese

1/2 cup sour cream 

1/2 tbsp dried basil

 1/2 tbsp dried parsley

1/4 tsp nutmeg

2 ea cups fresh baby spinach

2 tsp Olive oil 

1 1/2 cups grated mozzarella

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (topper)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 1/2cups fresh  mozzarella balls (topper)
 
5-6 cups Chef Gosselin Pasta Sauce ((https://www.chefgosselin.com/archives/191) For this recipe I use 3 ea 15 oz cans of tomato sauce following that recipe)) (add 8 oz water after you make the sauce to compensate for noodles not being precooked)
 
8 oz water (added to pasta sauce)
 
12 each manicotti shells
 
Heat a saucepan and the olive oil on med heat until the olive oil will sear the spinach leaf. Toss the spinach in the oil until it wilts but do not overcook. 
 
In a large mixing bowl place the ricotta cheese, eggs sour cream, basil, parsley, nutmeg, salt, pepper, mozzarella, parmesan cheese, and spinach. Mix well using a long-handled mixing spoon. Incorporate all ingredients well. 
Transfer cheese mix in a 1-gallon ziplock bag. Cut the tip of the bag and pipe the cheese mix into the manicotti shells. 
Place 4 cups of Chef’s pasta sauce in the bottom of a deep 12 x 12 baking pan or similar. Place the piped uncooked manicotti in the pasta coated pan. 
Continue filling manicotti’s and filling the pan until you run out of cheese. I was able to fill 11 each. 
Place extra sauce on top of manicotti. 
Place mozzarella balls over the top of your unbaked dish.
 
 Bake in a 350F preheated 70 min. 
Remove from oven and allow to cool 10 minutes.
Serve hot with garlic bread. 
Will freeze well for long term storage or refrigerate for up to 5 days. 
This is a great meal…. it tastes like you spent the whole day in the kitchen when it takes about 50 min to fully prepare if you have your motivation up to speed. 
My gal says… it is great…. but it is rare that she fails to love my efforts. 

2 Comments on “Chef’s Quick Manicotti

  1. It looks wonderful and I bet since you prepared this dish it will taste sooooo goood. Love u, Mom

    • I do believe you would have enjoyed these delicious manicotti’s. They came from the oven in the tastiest form. I highly recommend you try my technique and make a batch.

      Your Chef Son!

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