I make a mean manicotti dish (stuffed pasta rolls stuffed with ricotta and 6 other cheeses). Hell, I cook Italian food better than I cook soul food and I am Black.
I am going from the head since my desktop died with my recipe on it.
Godofwine's Manicotti
1 lb. of ricotta cheese
1 bag of 5 cheese blend (either store version or Sorrento, it doesn't matter)
1 can of olives diced
1 pg. portabello mushrooms diced
1 onion diced(I prefer sweet or red)
1 pg. of italian sausage diced
2-3 jars of Prego sauce
1 clove of garlic
garlic powder, onion powder, italian seasoning, salt, pepper
1 pg. of manicotti shells
olive oil
The problem when you get manicotti at a restaurant is they rarely season their cheese. This takes away from the taste. So start by putting the ricotta cheese in a bowl and seasoning the cheese with garlic powder, onion powder, italian seasoning, salt & pepper, just lightly. Mix in a bag of 5 or six cheese blend Italian cheese (make sure these are white cheeses as yellow cheeses are too oily)
I usually do my garlic like Goodfellas (slice it up real fine with a razor. You don't need to do that. Pour a thin layer of olive oil in a pan and sprinkle garlic powder in it. It gives you close to the same taste. When the oil is hot, put onions adn olives in the pan for a few minutes then add the mushrooms last. When they are done add 80% of them to the ricotta cheese.
Pour pasta sauce in a bowl and season to taste. i know it is Prego, but still I add my seasonings AND about 1/4 cup of sugar to remove the tang. Add the remaining vegetables to the sauce.
Cook the italian sausage by putting a 1/8 inch layer of water in the pan (it helps them fully cook). After the water cooks out then add olive oil & a little italian seasoning and brown the sausage. Once the sausage is complete peel the skin off the sausage and toss the skin. Dice the sausage up so that it is small enough to fit inside the ricotta shell. Add the diced sausage to the cheese as well as a bit of the sausage greese to give the cheese some flavor (not to much. The cheese shouldn't be swimming in greese. You just want to add sausage flavor). Mix the sausage, mushrooms, onions, olives & cheese really well and set aside.
Boil a pot of water then add the a little olive oil then the ricotta shells. Remove the shells from the water once the shell is pliable, but not too soft. Too soft will make the shell too difficult to hold and stuff. Get a large ziplock bag and put the cheese in it. Cut about a 1/2-3/4 inch hole in the corner and you can use it to fill the manicotti shells. Place a layer of sauce on the bottom of the pan then place the filled shells on top. Cover the manicotti shells with a layer of sauce and sprinkle shredded cheese on top. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes or so and serve.