JModius1972
02-05-2009, 06:09 PM
We had the neighbors over this past weekend and decided on a manicotti feast. It turned out amazing. We made 42 of the buggers and had 8 left when all was said and done. So, I decided to do a little photo essay for those of you who happen to enjoy manicotti. This is enough to make 48, but we ran out of shells. We used the ready-to-bake kind, not the ones you've got to cook ahead. They're much more convenient.
I decided to make the sauce from scratch. I used:
good quality extra virgin olive oil
2-28 oz. cans of San Marzano tomatoes
2-3 tbsp tomato paste
1 medium onion (I usually use sweet onions)
4 cloves of garlic
6-7 leaves of basil
a few good shakes of dried oregano and thyme
salt and pepper to taste
Start with a few tablespoons of oil, sautee finely diced onion and garlic until soft, add the tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, thyme, salt and pepper and mash. I have one of those nifty immersion blenders which does the trick. I usually leave a few chunks of tomato in there. Simmer for 30-45 minutes to develop flavors, then cut up the basil and throw in at the end.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/JModius/sauce.jpg
The filling is 3 one pound containers of ricotta cheese, 4 eggs, 1 cup of grated asiago cheese, salt and pepper to taste. Combine them all and pour the mixure into a large Ziploc bag. You'll understand why shorty.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/JModius/cheese.jpg
When you get the stuff in the bag, zip the top and reinforce it with one of those chip clip thingies. You can see it in the next pic. Snip off one corner of the bag about 1/2" from the bottom and use that to start filling the shells. Just squeeze the bag and the filling should go right in, as my lovely wife demonstrates:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/JModius/filling.jpg
The pasta box should have baking instructions, but ours said to place 1/2 cup of sauce on the bottom of the dish, line up the manicotti, cover with sauce and bake, covered with aluminum foil, for an hour.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/JModius/gettingthere.jpg
When they were 10 minutes from being done, I took the foil off, covered the top with mozzarella (my own idea as I'm a bit of a cheese freak), and put them back in the oven for the last 10 minutes. Here's the final product. You'll want to let them rest for 15 minutes or so otherwise the cheese will run everywhere when you try to get them out. They. Were. Good.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/JModius/done.jpg
I decided to make the sauce from scratch. I used:
good quality extra virgin olive oil
2-28 oz. cans of San Marzano tomatoes
2-3 tbsp tomato paste
1 medium onion (I usually use sweet onions)
4 cloves of garlic
6-7 leaves of basil
a few good shakes of dried oregano and thyme
salt and pepper to taste
Start with a few tablespoons of oil, sautee finely diced onion and garlic until soft, add the tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, thyme, salt and pepper and mash. I have one of those nifty immersion blenders which does the trick. I usually leave a few chunks of tomato in there. Simmer for 30-45 minutes to develop flavors, then cut up the basil and throw in at the end.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/JModius/sauce.jpg
The filling is 3 one pound containers of ricotta cheese, 4 eggs, 1 cup of grated asiago cheese, salt and pepper to taste. Combine them all and pour the mixure into a large Ziploc bag. You'll understand why shorty.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/JModius/cheese.jpg
When you get the stuff in the bag, zip the top and reinforce it with one of those chip clip thingies. You can see it in the next pic. Snip off one corner of the bag about 1/2" from the bottom and use that to start filling the shells. Just squeeze the bag and the filling should go right in, as my lovely wife demonstrates:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/JModius/filling.jpg
The pasta box should have baking instructions, but ours said to place 1/2 cup of sauce on the bottom of the dish, line up the manicotti, cover with sauce and bake, covered with aluminum foil, for an hour.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/JModius/gettingthere.jpg
When they were 10 minutes from being done, I took the foil off, covered the top with mozzarella (my own idea as I'm a bit of a cheese freak), and put them back in the oven for the last 10 minutes. Here's the final product. You'll want to let them rest for 15 minutes or so otherwise the cheese will run everywhere when you try to get them out. They. Were. Good.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/JModius/done.jpg