Home Made Manicotti

This is how my mother taught me to make Manicotti, she never used store bought noodles she made a crepe like batter and cooked them in a frying pan and then filled them and baked them smothered with mozzarella cheese on top.
Cooking them this way makes for a light and delicate noodle, with a very distinctive taste. I promise you this is a very easy recipe to follow, once you make manicotti this way you won't use a store bought noodle again.

Manicotti Shells:
1-1/4 cups water
5 large eggs
1-1/4 cups all purpose flour
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon melted butter or margarine, cooled
Additional melted butter, margarine, or vegetable spray, as needed to make crepes


Sauce:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup onion, finely chopped
1 to 2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 28-ounce can Italian plum tomatoes, with liquid
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
2-1/4 teaspoons sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons oregano
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper


Filling:
2 pounds ricotta cheese, regular or low fat
1/2 pound mozzarella cheese, diced
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
Salt
Freshly ground pepper

To Make the shells:
Place the water, eggs, flour, salt, and melted butter in a blender or processor and process until smooth.

tip: You should use a teflon coated fry pan 7" or 8" n diameter, I use a ladle full of batter place it into the frying pan swirl to coat and using the tip/corner of a spatula ease up the edge of the shell and flip, They pretty much cook as soon as they're swirled around, so don't wait to flip. Once you do get it flipped just give it 2 seconds and it will be done, take it out and stack them with wax paper in between each shell.

Heat a 7" or 8" crepe pan over medium heat for a few minutes, then brush with a little melted butter or vegetable spray. Pour in just enough crepe batter to cover the bottom of the pan.


Cook the shell until it is "dry" on top and barely light brown on the bottom.

Turn the shell over and cook about 10 to 20 seconds.

Remove shell to a large plate and repeat the process until all the batter is used.


Preheat oven to 350°F.

Make Sauce:
Prepare sauce by heating the olive oil in a large skillet and sautéing the onions and garlic.

Add all the remaining sauce ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer, covered for an hour.

Make Filling and Assembly:
In a large bowl combine the ricotta, mozzarella, and 1/3 cup parmesan cheeses (The rest is for topping). Add the parsley, salt and pepper, and mix well.

Pour some of the sauce into the bottom of a large shallow baking dish. Place about 2 tablespoons of the cheese filling in the center of each shell. Fold shell in thirds and place it seam side down in the baking dish. Repeat until all shells and filling is used. Cover the shells with the remaining sauce, and sprinkle on the remaining parmesan cheese.



The dish can be assembled in advance to this point and frozen or refrigerated until needed.

Bake the manicotti, uncovered, at 350°F for 30 minutes.

Remove the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

If baking manicotti directly from the freezer, bake at 350°F for an hour or until thoroughly heated.

Poster's Notes:
This sauce can be used in any recipe calling for a marinara sauce, and it freezes well.

Crepes/Shells can be frozen in a stack, but a sheet of waxed paper must be placed in between each shell.

The shell transform this into a light, delicate main course. Can be made ahead and frozen. The tomato sauce can be made, frozen and used on any pasta, fish, or chicken.



Nutritional Info Per Serving: N/A