This is one my mom used to make and all the family liked it. She got it from an Italian grandma in the neighborhood. I like it for comfort food. The sauce cooks the noodles, so it is easier to stuff the uncooked shells. I read that this makes a starchy sauce, but this comes out fine. Someday, I will get my pasta machine out and make a really authentic one.

Don't let the long list of ingredients put you off; just add to the sauce as you chop.

Manicotti
Recipe By: Family
8 to 10 Servings

The unusual seasoning makes a nicely flavored sauce. It will be thin, however, in order to cook the noodles.

2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 pound Italian sausage
1 large onion -- finely chopped
1 clove garlic***
1/4 cup celery -- finely chopped
1/4 cup bell pepper -- finely chopped
1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon cinnamon***
1 teaspoon nutmeg***
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon sugar
2 cans tomato juice -- 8 oz each***
2 cans V-8® vegetable juice -- 6 oz each***
1 can tomato paste
1/2 pound mushrooms -- sliced
1 pound mozzarella cheese -- shredded
1 pint ricotta cheese
1 pint cottage cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese -- grated
minced parsley**
2 medium eggs
2 packages manicotti shells -- 5 oz each*

In a large pot, heat olive oil and brown sausage, stirring. Spoon off excess fat. Add onion, garlic, celery and bell pepper and stir for a few minutes. Add the ingredients for the sauce (down list to mushrooms). Simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sauce will be thin (will thicken while baking). Meanwhile combine remaining ingredients for stuffing. Stuff uncooked shells, using a fork and small spoon. Place a small amount of sauce in the bottom of a lightly greased 9 x 13 inch baking pan. Place shells in a single layer. If necessary, use an small pan for any extra. Cover with remaining sauce. Dilute with additional juice if needed to cover noodles. Bake in 350F oven, 40 minutes, until shells are tender when pierced with a fork. Sprinkle additonal parmesan cheese over the top for the last 10 minutes of baking, if desired.

NOTES :

I became nostalgic and made this. I made it for the first time in years and realize that it needed some major adjustments to the recipie.

*I bought 2 packages of manicotti that held 14 tubes each (I think 8 oz., enough for 2 9x13 nch pans, and the filling was just right to accommodate them.

**On filling: I forgot to mentioned minced parsley. I used some that I had added grated lemon zest to and that was really nice. BIG hint: Load the filling into a pastry tube, then you can fill the tubes in minutes. Otherwise it takes forever.

***Sauce: I doubled the amounts used for the V8 and tomato juices (and still did not have enough sauce, so I would increase about 2 cups more.) Used 3 cloves garlic, and cut the cinnamon and nutmeg amount in half.

Times, if working fast.
Sauce prep: 20 minutes
Filling prep: 20 minutes (while the sauce simmers).