Recipe 1 - Baked Manicotti

So it's my first day, and I figured I would start out with a dish that uses some pretty classic components. I thought if I work through the easiest dishes first it would get the ball rolling and get me geared up for the challenging dishes yet to come. It also allows me to figure out how I want to proceed with pictures, recipes etc. So bear with me while I discover just how this blog thing is going to go...

In this recipe I've decided to use a few fresh ingredients that I had on hand in the fridge and needed to use up. Hey, at lease I'm getting my inspiration from everywhere. I used some boccancini (small fresh mozzarella balls) and some ricotta cheese.

So let's get started. F.Y.I. there will be a lovely recipe card accompanying each post that you will be able to use. So here are the ingredients laid out:



Preheat your oven to 350ºF. Prepare the pasta according to the directions making sure to leave it partially undercooked. It will finish in the oven once its covered in sauce. Mix the ricotta cheese with the basil, parsley, garlic, salt & pepper.



Once the pasta is done, remove it from the boiling water and cool it down. Next, fill the pasta with the ricotta mixture. Be careful not to break any of the shells. If you do, you can still use them, just put the seam side facing down. A great tip to use while you are filling the shells is to wet your finger so the cheese doesn't stick.

Grease a small casserole dish and then place about 1/4 C of the sauce at the bottom. This will help prevent the pasta from sticking and will allow the flavor of the sauce to surround all of the pasta.



Put the stuffed manicotti into the dish:



Spoon remaining sauce on top making sure to cover all parts of the pasta. Then top with cheese. (I had some boccancini that I sliced up.)



Place into oven and bake for approximately 20 - 25 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. I opted to pull mine out about 10 minutes before it was finished and topped it with some Italian seasoned bread crumbs that I drizzled with some olive oil for browning.




And presto! Baked manicotti!



There are many variations that you could do with this simple recipe like adding ground sausage, turkey or vegetables to the sauce. I hope you find this recipe quick, simple, & delicious.

Here's the recipe card:



Cheers!
xo Diane
contact: thepantrychallenge[at]gmail[dot]com