How to Cook Manicotti

Serves: 6-8

Preparation time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 1 hour 30 mins

Ingredients needed to make Manicotti:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• ¾ cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
• 4 oz mozzarella, chopped into ¼’’ cubes
• 1 can (28 oz) whole, peeled tomatoes, crushed and juice reserved
• 5 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 yellow onion, minced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/3 cup basil leaves, coarsely chopped
• 1/3 cup fresh parsley leaves, finely chopped
• 4 eggs
• 4 oz deli ham, finely chopped

Cooking instructions for Manicotti:

• To cook the sauce, drizzle oil in a 4 quart saucepan to heat it over moderate flame.
• Throw in the onions as well as garlic and sauté, stirring often, for about 5 minutes or until they turn tender.
• Stir in the tomato paste and continue to cook for another couple of minutes, stirring at times, until the mixture browns slightly.
• Pour in ½ cup of water and empty the can of tomatoes into it, along with the juice.
• Stir them all together, along with basil as well as 2 tbsp parsley and season with a dash of salt and black pepper.
• Continue to cook the mixture until it starts boiling and lower the heat to cook it over slow flame, for about half an hour or until the sauce thickens notably.
• Turn off the heat and set aside until necessary.
• To cook the filling, whisk an egg in a medium bowl, along with a pinch of salt and fair amount of black pepper.
• Fold in another couple of tbsp parsley, mozzarella, ¼ cup parmesan, ricotta and ham until they are evenly distributed throughout the mixture; keep it aside.
• To make the manicotti pasta, beat rest of the eggs along with 1 ¼ cups water and  a dash of salt until well combined.
• Fold in the flour gradually, beating it into the mixture after every addition and stir them well together to form a smooth, uniform mixture; let it rest for about half an hour.
• Place a skillet over moderately high heat and spoon in 3 tbsp of the batter, once it heats up.
• Spread it across the skillet and cook for about 1 ½ minutes to let it become firm but don’t let it brown.
• Flip it over onto a grease-proof paper and set aside to cool; make 15 more pasta in a similar fashion using rest of the batter.
• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
• Spoon half of the prepared sauce into a large baking dish and set aside until required.
• Place a couple of tbsp filling at the middle of each pasta circle and roll it into a cylinder.
• Arrange these cylinders on top of the sauce layer in the dish, with the seam side facing down and drizzle rest of the sauce on top.
• Top it up with remaining parmesan cheese and bake in the oven for about 25 minutes or until the filling is cooked through and the sauce give out bubbles.
• Remove from oven and finish it off with a sprinkling of parsley on top.
• Serve warm.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Last Updated on February 4, 2013 by