Manicotti
Toby making Manicotti
Today’s addition to Kids in the Kitchen is Toby’s Manicotti. It is Italian goodness at its best! Toby learned the base that makes lasagna and other Italian favorites so popular- ricotta, mozzarella, parsley, eggs and Parmesan. Mmmmm! He’ll make a great husband some day!
Manicotti is as easy as it is delicious and Toby shows us the slightly messy 🙂 shortcut of piping the filling into the shells with a resealable bag. His advice, “just fill the bag with half of the filling and prepare in two batches. The bag gets a little awkward when it is full.” My thoughts on that: he just needs a little more practice! See picture gallery below for Toby’s step by step photos.
Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart.
Happy Cooking to all the little chefs out there! Let me know what your kids are cooking up with a comment below. 🙂
Manicotti
Ingredients:
Serves 5-6
- 2 cups ricotta cheese
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- 2 cups (6 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
- 3/4 cup (3 ounces) grated Parmesan cheese, divided
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 1-2 cloves garlic, minced (optional)
- 24 oz marinara
- 1 -15 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
- 16 manicotti shells
- 3/4 t. sea salt
- 1/2 t. black pepper
Suggested Side
- 1 head broccoli
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400° F.
- In a medium bowl, mix well the ricotta, cottage cheese, 1 cup mozzarella, 1/2 cup Parmesan, eggs, 3/4 t. salt, 1/2 t. pepper, garlic and parsley.
- Spread 1 cup marinara in the bottom of a 9-by-13 inch baking dish.
- Fill a sealable freezer bag with the filling and cut a little off of one corner. This will allow you to pipe the filling into the shells. Shortcut! We learned this from Sarah Carey on Martha Stewart. I like using freezer bags for the thickness and less chance of seam bursting.
- Hold a manicotti shell in your hand and place the cut corner of filling bag inside and squeeze gently to fill. Repeat with all the shells and place into prepared baking dish in a single layer.
- Cover manicotti with diced tomatoes and rest of marinara. Make sure noodles are all well covered in sauce so they will soften as they bake.
- Cover with foil and bake for 40 min. Remove foil and sprinkle with 1 cup mozzarella and 1/4 cup Parmesan and return to oven for 10-15 more min. uncovered, or until cheese is bubbly and just starting to brown.
- For the broccoli, steam in a covered glass bowl filled with a little water in the bottom. Cook on high in the microwave for a few minutes or until just barely fork tender. Drain. Chop roughly and serve on the side.
Enjoy!!