...if you guessed a picture, then you are correct. I was completely distracted throughout the entire cooking process today, which fortunately did not detract from the quality of the food, but it did make me forget to take a picture. Therefore, you will be subjected to more pictures of my dog. Simply because he is awesome.
Tonight we visit another recipe from the "Everyday Stuffed Pastas" section of the "Everyday Pasta, Polenta, and Risotto" chapter. Beef and Cheese Manicotti was more involved than I thought it would be, and being distracted, it was hardly a smooth process.
First of all, I will take time to commend Wal-Mart on their pasta selection. I went there to pick up a few things, took a look at their pasta section thinking they couldn't possibly have manicotti shells, but lo and behold, they had them in their "Great Value" brand saving me time and money on my day of shopping. I don't say this often, but kudos Wal-Mart, kudos.
I gathered all my ingredients together before I began cooking, but apparently I wasn't prepared enough. My beef was barely defrosted along with my marinara, I needed to chop an onion and some garlic that wasn't ready to go when I needed it, oh yeah, and I forgot that my baking dish doesn't fit in a toaster oven.
That being said, as I boiled my pasta water, I heated a pan and threw in the bit of beef that was defrosted (I really didn't need much of it), and the onion that I had quickly chopped up. Once it had browned and my onion was translucent, I removed it from the heat and let it cool. I then dropped my two manicotti shells in the boiling water and prepared my filling.
I mixed some ricotta, mozzarella, garlic, salt, pepper, and basil for the filling. Once the beef had cooled, I stirred it in. I then had to tackle my baking dish problem.
I covered my toaster oven tray with aluminum foil as usual, then partially covered that with some marinara sauce. I removed the manicotti from that water once they were firm, but gave a bit, then attempted to fill them.
In Giada's recipe, it simply says, "Fill the manicotti with the cheese-meat mixture," Easy right? No. Not without ripping the manicotti a bit and more filling falling out than going in. It was frustrating to say the least, but I survived. I placed the now stuffed manicottis on top of the sauce, then covered them with more sauce, mozzarella, and Parmesan. I baked it in the toaster oven for about 35 minutes at 350 degrees.
For some reason, I had a good amount of filling left over and decided to take a taste. I completely forgot that there was raw garlic in this mixture, so you can only guess what I bit directly into. Awesome. Thankfully I don't have to socialize with anyone today.
As I mentioned before, my distraction while cooking (which I didn't go into detail about. It was mainly text messages, answering our door, and talking to my roommates) did not take away from the goodness of my dish. I always feel so accomplished when my baked pasta is cooked through just right. It's a weird process leaving it all to chance in the oven after not cooking it completely in the pot. The cheese and beef mixture was creamy and smooth and full of flavor, and was complimented nicely by the marinara. I personally think I might make a big batch of this in place of something like baked ziti for a family party. That is if I can master the whole stuffing process.
Another day, another recipe, and I have two more planned for the week! I plan to cook again Tuesday, but only if I am able to obtain the main ingredient...check back then to see how it all goes down!
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