Manicotti

I've made Manicotti exactly once in my life, and I'm not entirely sure why it was just this once. I think partly, I'm just not overly fond of cheese mixed with my pasta (unless it's Parmesan, in which case: more, please!) It was actually very delicious, and I have fond memories of it from my childhood. But overall, when I think of Manicotti, I think of it being time-consuming, and I don't love it enough to spend this much time on it regularly.

I don't recall exactly where I found the recipe, but it was very similar to this one off the Food Network website. (The difference being instead of using marinara sauce, I used 2 cans of diced tomatoes and a can of tomato paste)

It seems simple enough: boil the manicotti noodles:

Sautee the sausage with some fresh pressed garlic and diced onion:


Shred up some cheese:

Yes, a BIG mound of cheese :)

Add the seasonings to the meat while it's browning:

Then add in the tomatoes and tomato paste:


Chop up some fresh basil and add it to the skillet:


Then, you mix ALL this cheese (and an egg) together and use it as a filling for those shells. (This is the part where I said it gets VERY time-consuming...and the shells kept breaking on me.



You then place all the stuffed shells in a baking pan and cover with that meaty tomatoey sauce...

...and then you add a bunch of shredded mozzarella. You then bake that Manicotti for about 30 minutes or until the cheese on top gets melty and delicious!


As far as manicotti goes, it was very tasty, and if someone else spent the time making it, I'd definitely eat it again. I just felt like it was too much work for something I'm not THAT crazy about.