Three Cheese Italian Manicotti with Fresh Herbs in a Marinara Sauce

Manicotti or Cannelloni

Prep Time 10

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Servings 8

In a boiling pot of water add 1 tsp salt and nine dry manicotti at a time, boil half way, strain and let cool in a plate or on a paper towel. Spread them out to avoid sticking.
In a sauce pan make your marinara sauce or warm it up if you have some meal prep sauce in your freezer. If those two options are not available use your favorite store bought marinara sauce with no preservatives when possible.
Begin to blend together with a fork, the ricotta, shredded and grated cheeses, nutmeg, parsley, one whole egg, pinch of salt and pepper. Keep blending until a creamy texture is achieved.
In a baking dish put some tomato sauce at the bottom in a thin layer.
With a pastry bag or sturdy clear plastic bag with the corner snipped off, fill it up with the Ricotta filling. See the video on how to fill each Manicotti and line them up in the baking dish.
Lightly drizzle some tomato sauce on the top of each manicotti, sprinkle with more grated cheese, cover with aluminum foil and place in oven at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes. Remove foil, put a little shredded mozzarella on top, place back in oven for 10 more minutes. Remove allow to set for 5 minutes before serving.

Optional ingredient is 1/4 cup crushed pistachios mixed in with the ricotta filling mixture, it does add a wonderful extra layer of flavor. maybe try a few at the end to try something different.
If you know you will not have much time the day you want to serve this, you can prepare it the night before and it will be wonderful to pop in the oven the next day all ready to go, I have done this many times and it is fool proof.
I always add a fresh tossed salad and maybe some crusty bread if you would like, and this completes this excellent meal.