The Best Manicotti Recipe! (Intermediate level)

This manicotti is vegetarian, delicious and my childhood favorite. It is guaranteed to leave you satisfied and craving more. Let's make some. We're going to start by finely dicing our shallot. A shallot looks like a red onion but it's not. It's a lot sweeter and less intense than an onion and this is what we're using in our recipe. I found that the best way to remove the skin is to cut both ends off, slice it in half and then go in and peel the very first layer off. Voila! I do this with my onions as well and the skin comes off so easily. To get the fine dice we're going to cut a couple of horizontal lines and then we're going to cut a couple of vertical lines and then we're going to go down with our knife and then you'll see that you have really nice finely diced shallot and the aroma in here already smells delicious. These are the spices that we are using. We're using oregano, basil and a little red pepper flake. We're also going to use salt and pepper and I'm using some roasted garlic. You can use fresh garlic and of course garlic powder. It's my favorite seasoning so we're using it. This is what the pasta looks like. It has a hole down the middle and it looks kind of like a cannoli. You are going to boil this according to the directions on the packet. Be sure to salt your water and instead of dumping them all in there at once, I like to put them in there one by one to ensure that they stay whole. Let's get started on our filling. To a hot skillet I am adding a little avocado oil and then I'm going to add my shallot. We are not going to cook these shallots very long because they do brown pretty quickly. You just want to cook them until they are nice and tender, approximately two to three minutes. Once you see that they have started to caramelize or get a little dark, you are going to add your spinach. I'm going to add my spinach a little bit at a time but ultimately I am going to put the entire bunch of spinach in this pan. We already know how spinach is. It looks like you have a lot and once it's all said and done it wilts down to nothing but that's okay. I still love spinach even with all its flaws. I am going to add my garlic at this time once you see it's wilted. I am using roasted garlic so I have to go in and smash my garlic. If you're not using roasted garlic, this is where you add your chopped garlic. You want to make sure that you add your garlic towards the end because we don't want our garlic to burn. We're going to saute this for another two to three minutes until the spinach is all the way cooked. Before it's all the way done, we're going to season this of course because we have to season all of our ingredients. We're going to season this with some salt and some pepper and that's about it. Once you have it seasoned, make sure you watch it when your spinach has cooked down to next to nothing. That's when you know it's done and it's time to remove it from the heat. Let's check on our pasta. You want your pasta to be nice and kind of flimsy but still whole, not too soft. We're going to put this in an ice bath until they are ready to be filled. Once your spinach is done cooking, we are going to put this in a large mixing bowl and we are going to let this sit in the refrigerator for about five minutes until it's cooled down. The spinach is all nice and cool. It smells delicious and these are all our ingredients. We have an egg. We also have our garlic. I am using again roasted garlic so I have to smash my roasted garlic but this is where you add your regular garlic if you're not using roasted garlic. This is ricotta cheese. Ricotta is very mild and it really doesn't have a strong flavor. However, it's going to be very important because it makes our filling nice and thick and creamy. It's time to add the rest of our cheeses. We're using freshly grated parmesan, about a cup, and we're using three cups of mozzarella. I never use already shredded mozzarella or any type of cheese. I like to grate my own because it's just a lot better. I want to show you the different quantities of cheeses. I'm using one cup of parmesan, three cups of mozzarella because parmesan is pretty salty. You don't want your mix to be too salty. So you're going to add your whole cup of parmesan. We're going to add approximately two cups of the mozzarella. We're going to save the last cup for that nice gooey gooey bubbly topping. Add your two cuts of mozzarella and then we are going to add those lovely spices that I introduced earlier. We're going to put all of them in here. This is going to add a depth of flavor to our filling. Do not omit the spices. And then we're going to take an egg and beat it and then we're going to add that beaten egg to the mixture. That egg is going to hold all of our mixture together. Of course, we have to season this just a little bit. I'm adding a little bit of salt. I'm adding a little bit of pepper. And yes, of course, I'm going to add a little bit of garlic powder. I always put it on everything. Okay, everything. Once you have all your ingredients and seasonings in the bowl, you're going to gently mix this together until everything is fully combined. I like to stir and slightly turn my bowl a little bit. This makes sure that I get everything all incorporated. Now this does have a little raw egg, so be careful. But I do like to taste it to see if I need any more seasonings. But this is perfect. Let's load these up. You're going to start with your baking dish and you're going to put a little bit of oil at the bottom. And this is to make sure that your pasta does not stick to your pan. Feel free to use whatever type of oil you like. I am using, believe it or not, jarred sauce. I am using a marinara sauce. I really don't have to add anything to this sauce because this sauce is pretty flavorful. Feel free to make your own. It's all about making your own here. We're going to put a layer of sauce on the bottom. And as you see, I have my noodles in a strainer and they have been chilling until it's time to load them up. I take my thumb and I put it at the bottom. Then I take a teaspoon or a tablespoon to load them. I want you to get a good picture of this. Get a nice small spoon. You see my mixing spoon is way too big. I'm not going to be able to put the filling in there. I use a tablespoon or a teaspoon and I just go in and I stuff it from the top. Now if you are fancy, you can use a pastry bag and cut the end and stuff it like that. However, I'm doing it old school. I'm doing it how my mother taught me. So you take your thumb and you put it at the bottom. That's to ensure that none of the filling falls out. And you're just going to load these up. As you're putting filling in there, you are also pressing down so the filling is nice and jam-packed. This is labor intensive, but this is a labor of love. You are going to love that you're putting this much effort into it because it's absolutely delicious. Now when I am pushing it together, I make sure that my finger is at the bottom so it doesn't come out. And continue to stuff these with as much filling as you like. This recipe you'll be able to stuff around eight or nine. I'm only going to do six. Once I have it nice and stuffed, I like to go on the end and I like to add just a little bit on the ends because it makes the presentation nice and pretty. Once you have it stuffed, it's time to gently place it in your pan. And guess what? You're going to have to do the rest of them. My manicotti is all stuffed. We're almost to the finish line here. We're going to take the rest of the pasta sauce and we are going to cover the tops of these pasta shells. Now I like to go in between the shells because sometimes they have the tendency to stick together while they're baking. So put a little pasta sauce in between the shells and I just go right down the middle of the pasta. I like for the ends to be left out because it's pretty. Remember we eat with our eyes first and I don't like to cover the ends with the sauce. After they're all covered with the sauce, you're going to go in with the remaining of the mozzarella cheese and we are just going to make sure that as much of the top is covered with that mozzarella cheese. Once everything is looking beautifully covered, you're going to lightly, very very lightly, cover these with aluminum foil. We don't want the cheese to stick to the foil when it gets in the oven. We're going to lightly cover these and we're going to put these in the oven at 400 degrees for approximately 20 to 25 minutes. After 20 minutes have passed, you're going to take the foil off and you're going to cook for another five to six minutes and then you're going to get this nice bubbly delicious finished product. It's time to plate these up. As you can see, I am so excited. They smell absolutely delicious. It is almost time to eat. Now I go in here with two utensils because they're so stuffed so I'm really nice and careful and I remove them one at a time. I do not want my pasta to break while I'm trying to plate. You go in there, lift them up one at a time and then you're going to take some of that sauce, that deliciousness that's left in the pan and you're going to put that on a plate as well. That is cheese, that is sauce, that is flavor so we don't want to leave that in there. We're going to put that on our plate and of course we're going to garnish with some freshly grated parmesan cheese. We are going to top it with some freshly cut parsley of course and there we go. Vegetarian manicotti. Bon Appetit. Let's eat.