SUNDAY DINNER #2

This is post #500. Wow! Who knew I would still be writing after all of these years?

TALLULAH'S BAKED MANICOTTI

A couple of things about this dish:

*It's vegetarian

*It has two main steps....Making the sauce and assembling the Manicotti. I suggest that you DO NOT use jarred sauce. If you do, it will taste like Chef Boyardee. Ick.

SUMMER MARINARA SAUCE

This sauce will keep up to 8 days in the fridge, so you can make the sauce ahead of time for the Manicotti or you can use leftover sauce for noodles or turkey meatballs.

1 quart jar home-canned tomatoes with juice or 1- 28oz can whole tomatoes with juice

1-14.5 oz can tomato sauce

4 TBS extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

1 bay leaf

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 small bell peppers or 1 large, finely chopped

1 tsp fresh oregano, chopped

25 fresh basil leaves, chopped

3 long rosemary sprigs, finely chopped

1 TBS finely chopped curly parsley

Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

1. Heat oil in saucepan over med. heat. Add the garlic, bay leaf, onions and peppers. Stir occasionally until onions are translucent...about 10 minutes.

2. Gently mash tomatoes in a bowl to break them up a bit.

2. Add tomatoes, sauce and fresh herbs (accept parsley). Cook, occasionally stirring until flavors meld (20 or more minutes). Stir in parsley and season w/salt and pepper.

MANICOTTI

Serves: An assload...Cut sauce and recipe in half if cooking for 4 people

1TBS unsalted butter

4 cups Tallulah's Marinara Sauce

2 - 8oz boxes dried manicotti shells

1 tsp garlic granules

1 - 2 lb container of part-skim ricotta

1/2 cup grated parmesan

1 cup + 1 TBS chopped curly parsley

2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

3 eggs, beaten

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

1 cup grated 6 cheese blend (mozzarella, provolone, parmesan, asiago, fontina & romano)

1. Grease 9"x13" baking pan with 1 TBS butter and spread some of the marinara sauce on the bottom of the pan. Set aside. Bring a 6-quart pot of salted water to boil over high heat. Add the manicotti and cook till just tender. DO NOT OVERCOOK OR YOUR NOODLES WILL BE MUSH AND YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO STUFF THEM. Drain manicotti and rinse under cold water; set aside.

2. Heat oven to 350. In bowl, combine ricotta, garlic granules, parmesan, 1 cup chopped curly parsley, salt, pepper, nutmeg and eggs.

3. Transfer ricotta mixture to a 1 gallon resealable plastic bag and snip corner. Pipe filling in to each opening of ricotta shells. Transfer stuffed manicotti to prepared baking dish, making two rows. Add more sauce and continue with another layer if need be. Spread remaining marinara sauce over the manicotti and sprinkle with 6 cheese blend and remaining 1 TBS parsley. Bake until hot and bubbly, about 35-40 minutes. Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

ENJOY!