Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Spinach Manicotti

This is a delicious Italian recipe that takes a few minutes to prepare, but the results are wonderful.

Spinach Manicotti

1 -8oz pkg manicotti
1 carton ricotta cheese
1 pkg frozen spinach, frozen and squeezed dry
1 pkg (2 cups) freshly grated Italian mix cheese (I used a mix of parmesan, asiago, mozzarella, romano)
2 eggs
3/4 lb ground chuck, browned and drained
salt and pepper to taste
1 jar pasta sauce

Cook manicotti according to package directions. Drain carefully in a colander and allow to cool. Combine ground chuck, spinach, eggs, ricotta cheese, and 1/2 of the grated Italian cheese. Spread a small amount of the pasta sauce into a 15 x 10 inch baking dish.

Carefully stuff each manicotti with the meat and cheese mixture by hand. (There is enough of the filling for about 11 manicotti). Place on top of the sauce. Pour remaining sauce over the manicotti and sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Spread a small amount of sauce in your baking dish:

Drain and cool the pasta:

Stuff by hand. The pasta can tear during this process sometimes. Don't worry. Just turn the split side down. It still tastes the same.

Place over sauce:
Pour on remaining sauce and sprinkle with cheese:

Bake 30 minutes. The cheese will be yummy and golden:

I served it with french bread and a green salad.

5 comments:

Laurie said...

Waving "Hi" from snowy NY, Vicki!
I stumbled across your blog while searching for a ham & cheese chowder recipe, and yours looks YUM! You lasagna looks awesome also! Can I make a teeny suggestion for filling the tubes? If you spoon the filling into a gallon or quart size plastic ziplok, and then cut off one corner, you can squeeze it into the tubes with less mess. Of course if you have kidsters, the mess is the fun part that'll keep them in the kitchen cooking with you!
I'll be back for more inspiration and ideas! Keep 'em coning and thank you!

Vickie said...

You're welcome!
Actually I have tried filling them that way and it tends to split the manicotti. It is messier to do it by hand, but really worth it to me. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

Anonymous said...

I made this for my family Thursday night and we loved it. Manicotti is one of my favorite dishes and your recipe was GREAT, and easy. Thanks!

Vickie said...

You are welcome. I'm glad it was good.

Chris said...

You are just way too handy around the house;)

This looks excellent. Saving it to my "try soon" que.