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Since There Was So Much Interest, I Wrote Down More Detailed Instructions for My Sicilian Nonna's Fresh Sauce and Homemade Manicotti Recipe! Please Enjoy, and Let Me Know If You End Up Making It!
Cheryl Reiter
Ingredients
  • 2 32 oz Cans of crushed tomatoes (Tuttorosso or Cento brand preferred)
  • 2 32 oz Cans of tomato sauce (Tuttorosso or Cento brand preferred)
  • 1 Whole onion, finely chopped
  • Garlic (use however much your heart tells you to use)
  • 2 to 3 potatoes, peeled and chopped (I like bigger and smaller pieces. You can just cut them in half or smaller)
  • Fresh basil (2 to 3 full stalks, chopped and de-stalked)
  • Salt (at least 2 tbs, but play it by ear)
  • Pepper (at least 1 tbs, but play it by ear)
  • Sugar (at least 1 tbs, but play it by ear)
  • Crushed red pepper
Steps
  1. Fry the onion until it’s clear. You want it to dissolve in the sauce so get it pretty soft. I fry it in the bottom of my big pot that I’ll use for the sauce.
  2. Add the garlic in and fry with the onion for a minute or two.
  3. Add the cans of crushed tomatoes/tomato sauce.
  4. Add the potatoes.
  5. Add the basil. You can save a bit to add toward the end as well.
  6. Add the seasonings.
  7. Stir and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and let it simmer covered for at least 1 hour, up to 8 hours. I like to start my sauce in the morning.
  8. Stir every 15 to 30 minutes or so. A little more time in between won’t hurt. About an hour into simmering, taste test the sauce and add more spices to taste.
Notes
  • That’s really it! This makes a large pot and the sauce freezes really well. We usually eat some the day of, then freeze a few containers and just put them in the fridge the day before we want pasta to thaw them out.
  • Manicotti AKA the best thing you’ve ever tasted. If you’ve never had fresh manicotti, you are missing out, and if you’ve had non-fresh manicotti, you don’t understand how delicious it can really be. They are melt-in-your-mouth amazing.
  • 30 minutes of prep, 40 minutes of cooking time (this is an estimate!)
  • Ingredients (this makes enough for about 34 shells)
  • Filling:
  • 3 lbs of ricotta cheese (comes in a tub; Polly-O brand is good)
  • 1 cup of shredded mozzarella
  • 2 eggs
  • Pepper
  • Salt
  • Fresh parsley (I’d say 1 to 2 stalks if not more, with the leaves separated and cut finely)
  • Dough:
  • 3 cups of water
  • 3 eggs
  • Salt
  • Sifted flour, probably 1 to 2 cups at least but you may be adding more or less (YouTube how to sift it if you aren’t sure. I just use a metal strainer)
  • Instructions
  • Filling:
  • Mix the Ricotta, mozzarella, whisked eggs, pepper, salt and parsley in a large mixing bowl.
  • Pasta:
  • Mix the 3 cups of water and 3 eggs in a mixing bowl.
  • Slowly add in sifted flour a cup at a time. This dough mixture will basically be liquid; add the flour until it resembles whole milk in consistency. With that in mind, add more or less flour as needed to achieve that consistency. You can add more water/another egg if it becomes too thick.
  • Whisk well to eliminate all clumps.
  • Frying the pasta:
  • Get a small frying pan. One just big enough to fry 2 sunny side up eggs will do. You want the bottom to be the size of a small soft taco shell probably.
  • Put on medium-high heat and spray with non-stick cooking spray (or you can use oil, but the cooking spray is easy).
  • Slowly pour in a very small amount of the dough mix. If it seems like it’s too thin, it’s probably perfect. The pasta will be very thin and almost translucent while cooking.
  • Let it fry until it’s no longer liquid (this doesn’t take over 30 to 60 seconds if your pan is heated up), and fip with a spatula. Let fry another 30 seconds and remove from the pan.
  • Repeat until no more of the liquid dough mix remains, spraying some more non-stick spray between every other shell or so. You can stack each new pasta shell on top of one another; they don’t tend to stick.
  • Preparing the manicotti:
  • Take a large baking pan (or several depending on how much you are making) and spread some of your fresh sauce in the bottom
  • Spoon a good amount of the mixture into a shell, then fold it
  • Set it into your baking pan with the folded side down
  • Repeat for each shell. Place them into the baking pan with 1 to 2 inches of space between each (they will flatten and the filling will spread out as it cooks)
  • Top each manicotti with a small amount of sauce
  • Top with some shredded mozzarella (the amount is up to you, I don’t like a lot but some people put a bunch!)
  • Baking the manicotti:
  • Heat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit
  • Bake the tray of manicotti uncovered for 30 minutes
  • Cover with tin foil and bake covered for 10 minutes
  • Remove from the oven, let cool for 10 minutes, and EAT!
  • imgur.com/a/d4tY4fj
  • The recipe in doc form:
 

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