Manicotti Using Homemade Crepes

I’ve been trying to make a pasta dish on Sundays and Bev recently suggested we have manicotti using homemade crepes as we have done before.  Most stuffed manicotti seem to be made without meat but I decided I wanted to use our good Wurst Kitchen Italian sausage so off to the web I went for a search.  I found a recipe simply titled Manicotti Recipe on the “Dinner At The Zoo” blog and I opted to go with it.  I made it by the recipe except I used homemade crepes per the first link above.  You can click on the second link for pics and the recipe using store-bought manicotti.

Manicotti – Adapted from Dinner At The Zoo

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 pound Italian sausage hot or mild, casings removed

½ cup onion finely chopped

2 teaspoons minced garlic

15 ounces ricotta cheese

1 egg

1 cup mozzarella cheese shredded

½ cup parmesan cheese finely grated

¾ teaspoon dried Italian seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

2½ cups marinara sauce

12 manicotti shells (purchased or homemade)

1½ cups mozzarella cheese

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

cooking spray

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9"x13" baking dish with cooking spray.

Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Place the sausage in the pan. Cook for several minutes, breaking up the meat into small pieces.

Add the onions to the pan. Cook for an additional 4-5 minutes or until onions are softened and sausage is browned and cooked through.

Add the garlic and cook for an additional 30 seconds. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool.  Drain the fat.

Place the ricotta cheese, egg, mozzarella, parmesan, Italian seasoning and salt and pepper in a large bowl. Stir to combine.

Add the meat mixture to the ricotta mixture. Stir until well mixed.

Forgot this pic.

Cook the manicotti in salted boiling water for 1-2 minutes less than the package directions state. Drain and cool slightly.

Make the crepes (first link above).

Spread 1/2 cup of the marinara sauce over the bottom of the prepared dish.

Add 1/3 cup of the filling mixture to each crepe and shape to fit the crepe then roll into a log.

Arrange the manicotti in a single layer in the pan and pour the rest of the sauce over the top.

Cover and bake for 20-30 minutes.

Uncover, sprinkle the mozzarella cheese over the top, then bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted and browned.

Plate and top with fresh grated parmesan.

We sided it with a nice salad provided by our neighbors.

The Verdict:

It was very good and our neighbors seemed to enjoy it.  The crepes are simple to make and filling is much easier than the store bought noodles - I will be looking for new things to stuff them with.  The only negative came from sauce loving Bev who said it could have used some more and she may be right.  Next time I’ll serve the manicotti with a bowl of warm sauce for those who want more.  My dish cooked nine manicotti and I made up another dish with five to cook later so the crepe and filling recipes made 14 manicotti with a couple of spoons full of filling that I used in scrambled eggs.

Update - We had the second dish of manicotti and having some extra warmed sauce (three ladles full for Bev) worked very well.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

12/10/23 meal date