Manicotti, Sausage & Cheese

Submitted by katWoman2000

"One of my favorites recipes--a rich combination of sausage and three cheeses stuffed into manicotti shells! And it's not too difficult!"

 

• Ready In: 1hr 20mins
• Ingredients: 9
• Yields: 16 stuffed shells
• Serves: 8

ingredients

• 453.59 g breakfast sausage, browned
• 1 medium onion, chopped finely
• 226.79 g mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 340.19 g sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• 340.19 g cottage cheese
• 425.24 g can black olives, chopped
• 453.59 g box manicotti
• 2 (1133.98 g) can hunts or del monte spaghetti sauce (one "Garden Vegetable", one "Traditional" flavor)
• 340.19 g water (or 1/2 large can above)

directions

1. Brown sausage, cool slightly.
2. Mix cheeses, sausage, olives, onions in large bowl.
3. Stuff hard manicotti shells with above mixture (do not cook shells first or they will be near impossible to stuff).
4. Place stuffed shells in 9x13 Pyrex/glass baking dish.
5. Spread remaining sausage/cheese mixture over shells.
6. Pour spaghetti sauce over top. You may only need 1 1/2 cans of sauce depending on the pan size.
7. Pour 1/2 can water along sides.
8. Cover and refrigerate over night--this wait period will help the shells soak up water and get stoft.
9. Bake at 350°F for 40-50 minutes or until bubbly.

Reviews

[IngridH]

I made the filling from this recipe, and used it to stuff jumbo shells, which I put in the freezer for later meals. The only other substitution I made was to use ricotta cheese instead of cottage cheese. Yesterday, I took the first of the shells out for dinner, and I was really pleased with them. The filling was smooth and creamy, and cooked up beautifully topped with a little sauce. When I make again, I'll change the ratio of meat to cheese, as I like a bit more meat in mine. I will also add some garlic and Italian seasoning, but that's just personal preference. My guests and I really enjoyed this dinner, thanks for a great recipe to add to my OAMC rotation!

 

[Lavender Lynn]

Started out as making dinner, ended up as an adventure. This is luxury comfort food with enough class to ease the guilt. Aside from my being a bit clumsy about stuffing shells, it wasn't really very difficult, and it came out terrific. Probably could have been done with lasagne noodles, for that matter, since the manicotti shells are buried in the dish and don't display very dramatically anyway. My only rub is that I'd like to use a fresh-from-scratch sauce instead of the jar of Ragu we used. Made for Pick A Chef, April 2009.