(Better Than) Manicotti

For years, I've stuffed pasta shells with a ricotta & spinach filling, great for baking that day or freezing for later. Not everyone was a fan, though; some folks (okay, kids) ate the noodle and left behind the big blob of filling.

Well, one of my sisters pointed out a Cook's Illustrated recipe for baked manicotti (January 2007). It's wonderful, though not truly manicotti, which is a pasta tube that gets stuffed rather like my old shells. This version is made with no-boil lasagna noodles rolled around the filling. The technique is quicker and easier, and the product is tastier, with a better pasta-to-filling ratio. I follow CI's instructions, but not their recipes, using my own filling and sauce from a jar (gasp!). Here's the "how to":

Prepare one box of no-boil lasagna noodles at a time. Pour 1 inch boiling water into a 9 by 13-inch baking dish, then add noodles one by one. Soak them for five minutes, separating frequently with the tip of a knife to keep them from sticking together. Remove noodles from water (I drain, then add cold water so I can pick them up) and place in a single layer on clean kitchen towels.

Put 1/4 cup (#16 scoop) of cheese mixture on the short end of each noodle. Spread evenly three-fourths of the way up. Roll into a tube shape. Done!

Now it's time to decide where to put your creation. I usually make a huge batch, layering tubes on a baking sheet (separated by plastic wrap). These are frozen until hard and then transferred to plastic bags, from which I can remove a little or a lot, depending on the size of the crowd to be served.To serve fresh or frozen manicotti, I place the tubes on top of pasta sauce in a greased pan. Ideally, arrange the frozen tubes in the pan a day ahead so they can thaw overnight. You can cover with more sauce if you like (I usually don't).

Cover the pan with foil and bake until at least 140* internally. The time depends on how cold the pasta was and what oven temperature you choose--this food's not fussy.When the pasta is nearly done, sprinkle with Parmesan and return to the oven (uncovered) to melt the cheese.

This is a great Friday night dinner with sauce straight from the jar (I like Barilla). And if you use a nice meat sauce, the dish tastes just like lasagna. Mangia!

Here's my filling recipe. The last time I used it, I filled 55 noodles (about four dinners here). Cutting in half is simple, if you'd like to start with less.

(Better Than) Manicotti
Barilla no-boil lasagna noodles, about 55
4 (10 oz. each) packages frozen chopped spinach
5 # part-skim ricotta cheese (use 2# for a half batch)
2 # shredded mozzarella cheese
2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
4 eggs, slightly beaten

Thaw spinach. Squeeze out excess moisture and combine with cheeses and eggs. Assemble by rolling 1/4 cup filling onto each soaked noodle (see instructions above).

One more picky note: As I got near the end of the filling, I pre-scooped it to figure out how many noodles I would need to soak from the final box.