Mike's Stuffed Manicotti w/Meat Sauce

Mike Cook's Note:

Cheese stuffed manicotti covered in a homemade meat sauce. The tomato sauce is a garden or chunky style. I make the sauce in double batches and freeze. When I need a red sauce I defrost it, heat it, and add the remainder of ingredients (ground beef, sausage, or chicken)to complete the recipe.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 40 mins
• Prep Time: 40 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Serves: 7

Yield: 14.0 Tubes

Basic Sauce

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup yellow onions or 1/2 cup Spanish onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup finely chopped bell pepper (red, yellow, green)
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh mushrooms
• 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoons dried oregano
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh basil or 2 tablespoons dried basil
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• kosher salt
• fresh ground pepper

Meat for Sauce

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
• kosher salt
• fresh ground pepper

Manicotti w/cheese

• 14 pieces manicotti, uncooked (8oz)
• 3 1/2 cups part-skim ricotta cheese (30 oz)
• 1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (4 oz)
• 1/4 cup graded parmesan cheese, divided (Not the green can kind)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Directions:

1. To make sauce, heat the olive oil in a large sauce pan over medium-high heat.
2. Add onions and peppers.
3. Sauté until softened (approx. 5 min).
4. Add Garlic, sauté another minute.
5. Add mushrooms and sauté 2 minutes.
6. Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and seasonings.
7. Stir well.
8. Partially cover and simmer on low heat.
9. In a fry pan, over medium-high heat combine crumbled ground beef, Worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper.
10. Cook until browned, then drain.
11. Add to simmering sauce.
12. Continue to simmer until thickened, approximately 15 to 20 minutes.
13. Remove from heat until use.
14. Note: Sauce will be chunky (before ground beef is added), if a smoother sauce is desired stir with an immersion blender until desired consistency is reached.
15. Cook pasta according to package directions.
16. Cool in single layer on foil.
17. Pre heat oven to 375 degrees F.
18. In a large mixing bowl, combine ricotta, mozzarella, ½ of the Parmesan cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper.
19. Spoon or pipe into cooled manicotti.
20. In a 13x9x2 inch-baking dish spread about ½ cup of sauce on bottom, arrange filled pasta in single layer over sauce.
21. Cover with remaining sauce.
22. Bake covered with foil for 20 minutes, uncover, sprinkle remaining Parmesan Cheese, re-cover, and continue baking for 15 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.

Reviews

[ROSAMARIA]

Mike, I'm giving you 4 stars because it is soooo close to my mothers recipe. I will try it soon and then rerate it. I am going to try the lea/perrins in my meat....thats sounds good.