Ricotta and roasted bell pepper Manicotti in a classic red sauce topped with mixed cheeses
- One box of dried manicotti shells
- 1 12 oz container of ricotta
- Your choice of 2 or 3 bell peppers
- Salt and pepper
- One large can of tomato sauce 12-14 oz
- One 6-8 oz can of chopped stewed tomatoes
- 1 cup of red wine
- 2 tablespoons of dried Italian seasonings or your favorite blend of oregano, thyme, basil, rosemary, marjoram, etc.
- 1 small onion diced
- Whole bunch of garlic chopped or 1/4 cup
- Roast your bell peppers until the skin is BLACK!!! Super duper BLACK! You can do this a number of ways. I do it over my gas range on a skewer. You can also do it in your broiler. If you use your broiler I would oil the outside of the pepper and just leave the door open and keep an eye on it. You will probably want to have it in pan of some type and will have to move it around making sure to scorch and blacken it all over.
- Once your peppers are black as night, you will want to wrap them up in saran wrap and let them steam their charred skins off.
- In a sauce pan, sweat your onions and garlic. When they are clear and soft, add your red wine and Italian dried seasonings and let it simmer until it doesnft smell like it has alcohol in it. Putting the dried spices in it will bloom them while the red wine is simmering its alcohol off. Flavors at this point are blending nicely.
- Toss in your tomatoes and tomato sauce and mix well.
- Simmer this mixture for about 10 min to incorporate flavors.
- Check on your peppers in plastic wrap. Un-wrap them and try to rub off the skin. It should fleck right off. I pick it off and give it a quick rinse under water and then mince it up super tiny, omitting the seeds, stems and other parts that arenft really edible in a bell pepper.
- Mix the minced bell pepper into the ricotta cheese and add about 2 TBS of salt and pepper.
- Take your mixture and put it into a gallon Ziploc bag. Set it aside.
- In a pyrex or aluminum baking dish, spray it with some cooking spray or coat it with a little olive oil.
- Put a little bit of your sauce in the bottom and spread it around.
- Go back to your Ziploc of filling. Squish it all your filling into one corner of the bag and carefully cut off the corner, so you can use it like a piping bag.
- Fill all of your dried manicotti from the filling in your Ziploc piping bag and set the filled shells onto the sauce in your baking dish.
- Once they are all filled, you will want to pour all the rest of your sauce onto your manicotti. Spread it around so it evenly coats all of your manicotti.
- Cover with foil and bake at 350 for about 30min. or until you poke the manicotti and it is flexible.
- Uncover the dish and sprinkle generous amount of mixed cheese of your choice. I like cheddar and Monterey jack. Put back in oven and leave there until it is melty to your liking.