Manicotti Success!

I made manicotti today for the first time ever. I like it quite a lot, but I will usually buy it premade and frozen. It ok that way.

But today I made it from scratch. OK, I didnt make the cheese or pasta. But it's as close to scratch as I am going to get!

For the cheese filling I mixed:
1 pint ricotta
1/2 or more romano
4 oz swiss
4 oz havarti
(it was supposed to be 8 oz mozzerella, but I was out!)
2 eggs

Then I used lasagna noodles instead of manicotti noodles. They are much easier to work with. The standard lasagna is about 3 inches by 12 inches. I cut off the last 3 inches of each one, placed a heaping tablespoon of the cheese mixture at the end of the noodle and rolled them right up. Place that seam down in a low pan with red sauce on the bottom.

I did not over cook the lasagna noodles, and they dried out a little bit while I prepared the cheese. So they needed a little extra tenderizing. I simply added a cup of water to the rest of the red sauce and poured that over the top. Bake that at 350degrees for 1 hour. Beautiful!

The manicotti are short and fat, but frankly, the perfect size. Two rolls were plenty with a side of vegies.