April 17, 2016

Manicotti

Cheese, Entrées, Italian, Meat, Pasta 1 Comment

Do you like Italian food? Do you like food that is kind of like lasagne but not exactly like lasagne?

Do you like making a multi-step meal that involves scratch-made sauce and hand-filled pasta?

Do you like leftovers that last for days and only get better with time? Do you like perfectly delightful combinations of pasta, cheese, spinach, and meat sauce?  Do you like noodle tubes filled with magic and topped with awesome?

If you answered yes to any of the above, then this is a recipe for you!

I started making manicotti a couple years ago when I was home for Christmas. My mom, a long-time lasagne maker, decided to mix it up and buy manicotti shells instead for a family dinner. I volunteered to help, and though it was a lengthy process, I genuinely enjoyed stuffing a cheesy, spinach-y goo into the shells. Since then I’ve tinkered with different recipes, and I finally landed on the right balance. Like, a year ago. But it takes a long time to make already, so I hadn’t yet talked myself into taking the time to photograph the process. Not to mention, I keep making it in the winter when I have little evening light for shooting photos, soooooo.

Sorry for the delay!

A warning: if you’re looking for a quick week-night dinner, this is not the right choice. It could be if you decide to use frozen spinach instead of fresh or pre-made pasta sauce. But where’s the fun in that?

We start with a full pound of fresh spinach and trim all the stems off. Honestly, when I’m being lazy, I don’t trim the stems, but can I urge you to do so? The texture is just so much better without them.

Once trimmed, the spinach needs to be cooked down. Lots of people recommend boiling the spinach, but I actually prefer to sauté it. Since the spinach needs to be squeezed of moisture later, why introduce a pot of water to the equation?

So the spinach is washed, trimmed, sautéed, drained, squeezed, and chopped. Alternately, use a 10 oz package of frozen spinach. Your call.

Next up? Saucy saucy. I love using my Favorite Quick Spaghetti Sauce for this with the addition of ground beef. If you’re not a carnivore, or even if you are but don’t feel like having meat today, you can also totally make this without and be perfectly happy. I like options!

NEXT! While the sauce is simmering along, mixing up the filling doesn’t take much time at all. A blend of ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan is added to the spinach, along with an egg to keep the mixture nice and fluffy in the oven.

Also, cook your noodles. You’ll need those.

Sauce? Check. Noodles? Check. Filling? Check.

Now it’s time for the fun, messy part!

Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to fill your noodles with a spoon. You’ll just end up with cheese everywhere around you with not nearly enough in the noodles.

I use a large pastry bag with an opening about 3/4″ in diameter. If you won’t have one of those, no sweat, just trim the end off of a plastic baggie.

Fill each noodle until it feels firm and the cheese is barely oozing out the ends.

Fast-forward 10 minutes and voila! You’re done! Now just a coat of meat sauce and a generous sprinkle of parmesan before it’s time for the oven.

I won’t lie: this is a lot of work. But the final product is so worth it! Next time you have a Sunday afternoon free and wanna make a splash at dinner, make this! You’ll be glad you did.

 

Manicotti
Adapted from Food Network Kitchen

For the Filled Manicotti Shells
1 lb fresh spinach (or a 10 oz package of frozen spinach)
1 1/2 lb (3 c) ricotta
6 oz (about 2 c) mozzarella cheese, freshly grated
2 oz (about 1 c) parmesan cheese, freshly grated
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 tsp course salt
a few cranks freshly ground black pepper
1 lb manicotti shells

For the Sauce
2 tsp olive oil
1 c diced yellow onion
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 pints basic tomato sauce
2 T sugar
2 tsp dried parsley
2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 lb ground beef

If using fresh spinach, remove stems and wash thoroughly. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat and add spinach in batches, cooking until spinach is soft, fairly dense, and dark green. Remove to a colander and repeat with remaining spinach. Squeeze as much liquid from the spinach as possible and chop finely. If using frozen spinach, thaw completely, squeeze the liquid out, and chop finely. Set spinach aside.

In the frying pan you used to cook the spinach, heat over medium and add ground beef. Season with salt and pepper and add a couple tablespoons of water to help break down the beef into small bits. Cook until browned through and set aside.

While the beef is browning, dice onion and mince garlic for the sauce. Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan and saute onion and garlic until they have a bit of color. Add tomato sauce and all seasonings and stir well. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 15-20 minutes or until sauce has begun to thicken. Once the sauce has reached desired consistency, blend with an immersion blender, blender, or food processor. Add the sauce to the ground beef and set aside.

While sauce is cooking, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add manicotti noodles and cook for 10 minutes or until noodles are al dente. Drain in a colander.

While the noodles are cooking and the sauce is simmering, grate mozzarella and parmesan cheese. In a small bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Combine spinach, ricotta, mozzarella, half of the parmesan, salt, pepper, and the eggs. Mix well.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spread a thin layer of the meat sauce into the bottom of a 13″x 9″ baking dish. Scoop filling into a large pastry bag, or, trim the end off a plastic storage bag. The opening of either should be about 3/4″ in diameter. Fill each manicotti shell by placing one end against the pad of your hand (to prevent filling from squeezing out) and filling to the top. Make sure each shell doesn’t have any empty sections. Place filled shells in the baking dish. You’ll have to press them fairly close together so they will all fit.

Spread the remaining meat sauce across the top of the manicotti. Sprinkle remaining parmesan cheese over the top of the sauce and bake for 30 minutes.