Three Cheese Manicotti

We are a crazy pasta loving family. I mean honestly who isn’t. Pasta dishes are so versatile and you can throw a hearty memorable meal together pretty quickly. Roasted Garlic Three Cheese Manicotti is absolutely delicious. Manicotti noodles are stuffed with ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan and fresh roasted garlic. It is topped with your favorite jarred marinara sauce. These days some of those jarred marinara sauces are pretty decent but feel free to make your own if time permits. Fresh marinara smells so amazing when simmering. However if you are like me and your life is full of kids, pets, laundry, broken appliances and a full kitchen remodel than go with the already prepared stuff.

Have you tried any of the other pasta dishes? Bacon Sausage Sun Dried Tomato Angel Hair Pasta, Barbecue Pork Topped Gouda Mac N Cheese and Bacon Asparagus Cajun Pasta are just a few reader, family and friend favorites. We love this excellent Lemon Asparagus Pasta from Dinner at the Zoo!

This Roasted Garlic Three Cheese Manicotti is perfect with a simple garden salad and/or a crusty baguette. In a hurry? No problem because you can roast the garlic up to several days in advance and store in the fridge. Roasted garlic is simply amazing and ends up sweet and mellow. You can also mix the cheese stuffing for the manicotti up to 24 hours in advance. One thing for sure is that life happens and somehow someway you have to make it all come together.

So if you love pasta and love to prepare wholesome delicious dishes that you can feel great about serving your family than this Roasted Garlic Three Cheese Manicotti has your name all over it. Don’t waste one more minute. Put the ingredients on your shopping list now and let me know what you think.

Roasted Garlic Three Cheese Manicotti

Ingredients

1 small garlic bulb
1 teaspoon olive oil
8 manicotti noodles
15 ounces ricotta cheese
1 cup mozzarella shredded
2/3 cups fresh grated Parmesan
1 egg
1/3 cup fresh chopped Italian parsley (reserve 1 1/2 tablespoons for the top)
3 cups marinara

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut off the tip (not the root end) of a garlic exposing the cloves. Place in small baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil using your fingers to rub the olive oil over all the cut. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 35 minutes.
Cook manicotti noodles according to package instructions.
In medium bowl mix together ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, egg, parsley and at least six cloves from the roasted garlic (please see notes). In 8 x 11 inch casserole dish spread 1 cup marinara sauce. Stuff each manicotti with cheese mixture. You can stuff half of the manicotti, turn so you are holding the mixture in with the palm of your hand and stuff the other side. Place in dish and repeat until all the noodles are filled. Top with remaining marinara. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, top with remaining parsley and serve.

Notes

Roasted garlic is very sweet and mild.
If you press on the stem end of the baked garlic clove it will easily squeeze out into the cheese mixture. I use a fork to mix the cheese mixture so I can break up the roasted garlic.

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