Good Manicotti Takes Time!

Baked Pork and Mushroom Manicotti Passalocchua

One of my favorite dishes is stuffed pasta. Stuffed pasta in any of its offerings, be it Ravioli, Tortellini, Shells, whatever, I’m going to dive in!

Manicotti, in its large tube or small, is a wonderful dish. Normally, I can sit down and fill myself to the point of bursting, with that pasta dish in front of me. I mean, it’s horrible how much I actually love Manicotti. It brings a long forgotten past of my mother’s cooking to mind when I eat it, and memories of enjoying this dish with our friends the Vendetti family comes to mind as well. The smells, the atmosphere, the laughter and football on TV, jog right off the fork and stir up my mind’s crockery.

Still, good Manicotti, real Manicotti, is hard to come by. Sure, you can buy the shells and do what you need with them, but when I talk about Manicotti from when I was a kid, I’m taking about 5 or 6 women in a family kitchen, making the pasta dough and drinking red wine coolers. I’m talking about the old men cooking up the sausage and helping with the stuffing. I’m talking real Italian Manicotti. You know, when you get there and half of the household was up till 2am the day before making the shells, and they are drying out in the sunlight on big old sheet pans, covered with sheets. Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about!

Well, I’m not going through all that trouble today. Today, I’m going to give you a good stuffing mixture, so you can enjoy a great, flavorful and filling dish. My Manicotti stuffing has a little variety to it, and your welcome to substitute whatever you want from it. Do as you wish. Just remember, if you love it, leave me a message down below.

For about 25 large Manicotti shells.
1 pound ground Italian Pork Sausage.
2 pounds Ricotta cheese.
8 large white mushrooms chopped.
½ of a medium white onion minced.
Chopped garlic cloves added to taste. (4 cloves or more)
Salt and pepper.
Mozzarella cheese, about 2 to 3 cups. Or more 
Marinara sauce, about ohhh I don’t know…5 cups or so.
Eggs…3 eggs…..yeah you’ll need them.
Spinach, chopped fine, or minced.
Parmigiano cheese.
Olive oil.


Ok… ready!? Cook the pasta, cook the pork, mix the pork with everything except the pasta, and stuff them son of a bit**es! Ha…
No really.

Cook the pasta below Ala Dente, as it will cook in the oven and absorb moisture. Do not cool under cold water. Place the drained pasta on a sheet and cool in a refrigerator or even outside if the temperature is cool enough, but whatever you do, don’t flash chill them in cold water. They will break or crack down the sides. Which is not a good thing, is it?

Brown the sausage and cook down the garlic, spinach, mushrooms and onions. Season to taste.

Allow the pork sausage mixture to cool then add in the Ricotta cheese, parmigiana, and about a cup or two of mozzarella cheese. Mix well. Crack three eggs and mix into the stuffing shortly after your done mixing in the ricotta. Mix well.

Take a spoon, and stuff the shells. Lol… that’s basically all you need to do…then cook for about an hour at 325°f. Not before you top it off with some cheese and sauce….well…wait…the truth is, you need to oil your cooking pan, sauce the bottom before you place a stuffed shell in the pan. Layer them accordingly. You can do one pan in two layers, or two pans at one layer. That all depends on your choice.

I hope you enjoy my Manicotti Passalocchua, named after my wife’s maiden name. Yes, she’s a feisty Italian woman, and yes, she’s going to tell you, I make a mess of the kitchen…lol
Enjoy!