Reheating Manicotti In Oven Recipes

FREEZE AHEAD MANICOTTI

Steps:

• Boil manicotti according to package directions, adding oil to water so they won't stick (actually we have had a discussion about this and I'm not sure that works, but I do it anyway!) Meanwhile, mix ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, parsley, and eggs.
• Drain manicotti; run cold water over it.
• Stuff each manicotti with cheese mixture.
• Place them in a 3 qt casserole after treating the dish with nonstick spray, and pour sauce around the manicotti.
• Cover dish with foil and freeze.
• When frozen you can pop it out of the container and put in a freezer bag if desired.
• To prepare for serving, thaw and preheat oven to 350F.
• Cover and bake for 45 minutes.
• Uncover and bake for 15 minutes more.

MAKE-AHEAD MANICOTTI

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, mix together ricotta cheese and eggs until blended. Stir in spinach, mozzarella cheese, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese, sugar, salt and pepper. Stuff mixture into uncooked pasta shells.
• Spread 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce in the bottom of a medium baking dish. Arrange stuffed pasta shells in a single layer over the sauce. Pour the remainder of the sauce over the shells, cover dish, and chill in the refrigerator for 8 hours, or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Bake covered for 40 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese, and bake for another 15 minutes.

MAKE AHEAD MANICOTTI WITH TIPS AND TRICKS

Steps:

• Cook manicotti shells in boiling salted water with a teaspoon of olive oil for 5 minutes only, no matter what the back of the box tells you.
• After 5 minutes scoop out pasta with a spider then run them quickly under cold water to cool down.
• Spread them onto a paper towel lined baking sheet, let them drain a little and gently pat them dry with a paper towel, then lay each tube into the individual slotted holder that they came packaged in the box.
• In a large bowl combine the ricotta, romano, shredded cheeses and spinach or herbs, basically everything except the egg yolks, use a hand mixer to get it nice and smooth.
• Taste it for enough cheese, salt and pepper, when you are satisfied with the taste add the 2 egg yolks and incorporate it with the hand mixer.
• Place a disposable decorator bag into a tall glass for stability ( no tip required) then spoon some of the ricotta mixture into it, filling it three quarters of the way up. Snip off the bottom enough so that the filling squeezes through with ease into the pasta hole.
• Spread enough marinara to cover the bottom of your baking dish.
• Pick up one pasta tube and tip it on an angle and with your decorator bag start piping the ricotta mix in as far as it goes, if it doesn't reach the other end just flip to that side and fill it up.
• Lay it down on top of the marinara sauce and repeat until all are filled.
• When all the manicotti are filled spoon more marinara on top with some grated cheese.
• Cover with foil.
• At this point you can refrigerate the whole pan and the next day take it out a good hour or so before baking to get it close to room temperature.
• When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees, keep pan covered with foil and bake 25 to 30 minutes or until heated through because ovens do vary.
• Remove from the oven, take off the foil and let it set for 5 minutes, spoon some warm sauce on top and garnish with more grated cheese.
• Ready to serve!

STUFFED MANICOTTI

Steps:

• In large skillet mix together sausage, spinach, roasted tomatoes, oregano and minced garlic.
• Heat through over medium high heat for 5-6 minutes.
• Remove from heat and mix in mozzarella.
• Use a small spoon to stuff each manicotti with 2 tablespoons mixture layering into the bottom of a pre-spayed disposable foil pan.
• Cover manicotti with pasta sauce.
• Sprinkle top with remaining mozzarella cheese
• Cover top of foil lined pan with plastic wrap. Seal with lid or layer of aluminum foil.
• Label and freeze.

MANICOTTI (THREE CHEESE, NO-BOIL PASTA RECIPE)

Steps:

• Place the steamed escarole, endive or spinach into a large bowl, then add the ricotta.
• Add the eggs, grated Parmesan or Pecorino, salt, and pepper and mix well.
• Next, toss in the shredded mozzarella. Mix well.
• You'll already have the tomato sauce from my linked recipe, but here's the trick to not boiling the pasta, adding water to the sauce. I say to use boiling water because I don't want you using hot water from the tap; it needs to be very hot. Put half of the sauce in a bowl (if it's about 1 cup of sauce, add just under 1 cup of very hot/almost boiling water. You can make this watery sauce as you need it so you don't end up watering down too much of the sauce.
• Spread a generous amount of the watery sauce in the bottom of the pan, then start filling the tubes with the filling. As I said above, you can choose to use a piping bag without a tip, but it's really easy to use a small spoon, too. Use both ends to fill the manicotti shells as it's quicker than trying to push the filling all the way to the opposite end.
• Once full, place in the pan. Be sure to place them generously spaced apart as they will grow and spread.
• Once all the manicotti are filled (you may need another small tray if all of the manicotti don't fit (don't attempt to squeeze them in). I put 4 in a separate little dish. Make sure to cover all of the manicotti.
• Add enough watery sauce so that it comes about halfway up the pasta shells. We need this much liquid since the pasta hasn't been boiled (and absorbed the water when cooking). Let the shells rest for about half an hour before baking.
• Cover and bake for about 30 to 35 minutes, until the pasta is ready. You can remove the cover for the last 5 minutes if you like.
• Before serving, add some heated pasta sauce (the original batch, not watered down) to the manicotti. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese and add a sprig of parsley for color, and enjoy!