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Per serving
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- 1
Make a real marinara
Warm the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic, finely minced, and cook just until it smells sweet and fragrant, about 30 seconds — do not let it brown or it turns bitter. Pour in the crushed tomatoes and the oregano, add a good pinch of salt, and bring to a gentle simmer. Let it cook, stirring now and then, for 15 to 20 minutes, until it tastes like sauce and not raw tomato. Tear in the fresh basil at the very end. This is the whole point: no jar, five minutes of real work, a sauce with actual character. You will have about 4 cups. If it looks tight, loosen it with a splash of water.
- 2
Mix the filling
Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a bowl, stir together the ricotta, the onion finely chopped, the egg lightly beaten, the minced parsley, the pepper, and the 1/4 teaspoon salt. Fold in half of the mozzarella and half of the Parmesan, keeping the rest back for the top.
- 3
Fill and assemble
Spread about 3/4 cup of the marinara across the bottom of a greased 13x9-inch baking dish. Fill the uncooked manicotti shells with the ricotta mixture — a piping bag, or a zip-top bag with one corner snipped off, makes this painless — and lay them in a single layer over the sauce. Spoon the remaining marinara over the top, covering every shell so the pasta has enough moisture to cook.
- 4
Bake it off
Cover the dish with foil and bake until the pasta is tender, about 50 minutes. Uncover, scatter the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan over the top, and bake 10 to 15 minutes more, until the cheese is melted and bubbling at the edges. Let it rest 10 minutes before serving — it needs that time to set. Finish with a little more parsley if you like.
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Baked Cheese Manicotti
Created by: PastaAndProsciutto
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 garlic
- 28 oz crushed tomatoes
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 15 oz ricotta cheese
- 1 onion
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley
- fresh basil
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese
- 8 oz manicotti shells
Instructions
- Make a real marinaraWarm the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic, finely minced, and cook just until it smells sweet and fragrant, about 30 seconds — do not let it brown or it turns bitter. Pour in the crushed tomatoes and the oregano, add a good pinch of salt, and bring to a gentle simmer. Let it cook, stirring now and then, for 15 to 20 minutes, until it tastes like sauce and not raw tomato. Tear in the fresh basil at the very end. This is the whole point: no jar, five minutes of real work, a sauce with actual character. You will have about 4 cups. If it looks tight, loosen it with a splash of water.
- Mix the fillingPreheat the oven to 350°F. In a bowl, stir together the ricotta, the onion finely chopped, the egg lightly beaten, the minced parsley, the pepper, and the 1/4 teaspoon salt. Fold in half of the mozzarella and half of the Parmesan, keeping the rest back for the top.
- Fill and assembleSpread about 3/4 cup of the marinara across the bottom of a greased 13x9-inch baking dish. Fill the uncooked manicotti shells with the ricotta mixture — a piping bag, or a zip-top bag with one corner snipped off, makes this painless — and lay them in a single layer over the sauce. Spoon the remaining marinara over the top, covering every shell so the pasta has enough moisture to cook.
- Bake it offCover the dish with foil and bake until the pasta is tender, about 50 minutes. Uncover, scatter the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan over the top, and bake 10 to 15 minutes more, until the cheese is melted and bubbling at the edges. Let it rest 10 minutes before serving — it needs that time to set. Finish with a little more parsley if you like.