manicotti or cannelloni?

I've heard this dish given with both names, and had always assumed they were for the most part interchangable; indeed, the recipe that I am going to feature here from Giada de Laurentiis actually refers to it as "manicotti." I didn't realize that there was a difference between the two, except perhaps regional or colloquial, but a little research illuminated an interesting distinction; according to Wiki, there is an important difference, and it would be more correct to call this dish "cannelloni:"

 

Cannelloni is often erroneously referred to as manicotti (Italian: sleeves), which is actually a filled Italian dinner crepe, as opposed to pre-rolled pasta. While manicotti and cannelloni are sometimes used interchangeably in preparing non-traditional versions of some dishes, in traditional Italian cooking cannelloni are made with pasta and manicotti with a specialized crepe pan, and the two have particular uses. Although both terms are plural nouns in Italian, the English term is often construed as singular, particularly when used as the name of the dish.

 

So, with that out of the way, It looks like the dish we prepared was would more properly be called cannelloni; however, since the recipe referred to it as manicotti, I may inadvertantly refer to it that way in this post. either way, Wiki went on to gve a good idea of just exactly what we are making here:

 

Cannelloni (Italian: large reeds) are a cylindrical type of pasta generally served baked with a filling and covered by a sauce. Some type of cannelloni need to be boiled beforehand, for some others [it] is enough to use runnier sauces/filling. If one cannot find ready made cannelloni, rolling lasagne around a filling is an alternative. The stuffing may include ricotta cheese, spinach and various kinds of meat. The sauces typically used are tomato or béchamel sauce.

 

Sounds like good stuff to me, no matter what it's called!

 

The recipe we used comes from Giada De Laurentiis and The Food Network. Giada is quite the "goddess of the kitchen" in my opinion, especially when we are talking about Italian cooking:

 

 

The beautiful Mrs. Tas absolutely cannot stand Giada, because she seems to cast a spell on me every time i see her on TV:

 

 

However, what Mrs' tas doesn't realize is that my interest is Giada is purely culinary in nature! Really! Giada isn't just another pretty face, she is a true master of Italian cuisine and sharing that talent through the medium that is television - you can click here to read her impressive biography!

 

So, without further ado, here we have makings of manicotti/cannelloni, which caught the eye of the beautiful Mrs. Tas and inspired her to try this ~

 

That's right ~ this project was one done by Mrs. Tas! It is all her, from beginning to end.....I simply got home from work in time to see it come out of the oven!

 

Here's the recipe:

 

Beef and Cheese Manicotti Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis   Ingredients:   4 teaspoons olive oil 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped 1 pound ground beef Salt and freshly ground black pepper 14 (8-ounce package) manicotti 1 (15-ounce) container whole-milk ricotta 3 cups shredded mozzarella 1 cup grated Parmesan 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves 2 garlic cloves, minced 3 cups marinara sauce 2 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces   Directions:   Heat a heavy medium skillet over medium heat. Add 1 teaspoon of the olive oil, onion and ground beef. Season with salt and pepper. Saute until the meat browns and the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, and cool.   Brush 1 teaspoon of oil over a large baking sheet. Cook the manicotti in a large pot of boiling salted water until slightly softened, but still very firm to the bite, about 4 to 6 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the manicotti from the pot to the oiled baking sheet and cool.   Meanwhile, combine the ricotta, 1 1/2 to 2 cups mozzarella cheese, 1/2 cup Parmesan, and parsley. Add the garlic, salt, and pepper to taste, and mix. Stir the cooled meat mixture into the cheese mixture.   Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.   Brush the remaining 2 teaspoons of oil over a 13 by 9 by 2-inch glass baking dish. Spoon 1 1/2 cups of the marinara sauce over the bottom of the prepared dish. Fill the manicotti with the cheese-meat mixture. Arrange the stuffed pasta in a single layer in the prepared dish and spoon the remaining sauce over.   Sprinkle the remaining 1 1/2 cups of mozzarella cheese, then the remaining 1/2 cup of Parmesan over the stuffed pasta. Dot entire dish with the butter pieces. Bake the manicotti uncovered until heated through and the sauce bubbles on the sides of the dish, about 30 to 35 minutes. Let the manicotti stand 5 minutes and serve.

 

Looks great, doesn't it?

 

Ok, here we go ~ first, as always, we see the goods for a double batch:

 

 

Not pictured are: olive oil, salt and pepper; also, we only had one container of ricotta in the house, and the stuff is ridiculously expensive at our small-town grocery, so in place of the other container of ricotta, we used cottage cheese, with fine results. Finally, be prepared to use more marinara than the recipe calls for - we ended up using a little over 2 jars for a double batch.

 

The first step was to get the ground beef going, with the olive oil, onion and seasonings:

 

 

Meanwhile, the talented Mrs. Tas boiled some lightly-salted water and dropped the pasta in:

 

 

When the tubes were slightly cooked but still quite firm, she set them aside on an oil-brushed cookie sheet to cool and drain a little:

 

 

Pretty easy so far ~ and now to the fun part! After mixing the cheeses and seasonings into the drained and cooled ground beef:

 

 

She brushed some oil into a baking dish, and laid down some sauce:

 

 

Then, she stuffed the pasta with the filling and laid them out in the baking dishes:

 

 

Then she covered the manicotti/cannelloni with more sauce:

 

 

And topped with cheese:

 

 

And, finally, dotted the tops with a little butter:

 

 

Then it was into the pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for a little over half an hour, until the sauce was bubbling and the cheeses were gooey and just starting to get golden-brown: 

 

 

Really nice, aren't they?

 

It was around this time that I got home from work, and of course the wonderful aroma hit me as I walked in the door. When i saw the baking dishes resting and the beautiful Italian dinner waiting to be served, I thought I had died and gone to heaven!

 

We served this outstanding dish with toasted garlic bread and French-cut green beans:

 

 

As you can see, things came apart a little bit coming out of the baking dish, but no worries ~ a first attempt is never totally, 100% perfect, and that's just fine!

 

The important thing is how it tasted, and we loved every bit of this! I truly enjoyed this dish, and was very impressed with the resourceful Mrs. Tas for going out on her own and giving it a try...and even more pleased that she took pictures for me!

 

We had absolutely no complaints about this dish - it was great in every way. As you can see, it also lends itself well to little tweaks in seasoning and preparation, so a person can experiment a little using spinach, different meats (chicken, perhaps, or maybe shrimp?), béchamel sauce, different cheeses or whatever you want.

 

Thanks for looking, and I hope you give this a try, no matter what you decide to call it ~ if you have any questions, just ask me ~ or, more correctly, ask me to ask Mrs. Tas!