Ingredients:
1 pound Italian sausage
1 onion, small dice
2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons parsley and/or basil, finely chopped
16 oz whole milk ricotta
1 cup shredded mozzarella
4 oz freshly grated parmesan
14 manicotti noodles
3 teaspoon of olive oil
24 oz jar of marinara sauce
salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 375 F
Fill a large stock pot with water, 1 teaspoon of olive oil and 1 teaspoon of salt and put on stovetop over high heat. Bring to a boil.
While the water comes to a boil, place a large sauté pan over medium heat, add 2 teaspoon of olive oil and then the Italian sausage to the pan. Cook the sausage, stirring often and breaking the meat into small pieces, until cooked through and browning. With a slotted spoon, move the sausage to a large bowl. Without cleaning or draining the sauté pan, return it to the heat and add the onion and garlic. Season with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and cook until the onion is translucent. Move the onion mixture to the bowl with the sausage. Allow to cool.
While the mixture cools, cook the manicotti noodles according to the package instructions. Drain and set aside until you are ready to fill the noodles.
Add the ricotta, half of the parmesan, and the parsley and basil to the sausage mixture in the bowl. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and a few grindings of pepper. Mix everything together until well combined.
Set a 9x13 inch pan out next to your noodles and sausage mixture. Using a spoon, carefully fill each manicotti noodle with the sausage mixture. Don't overstuff, but fill them up. Line the filled noodles up in the pan, and repeat with remaining noodles.
Once all the noodles are filled, pour the marinara sauce over the top of them in the pan, spread the sauce evenly over the noodles. Spread the mozzarella and remaining parmesan out over the top of the sauce.
Bake for 30-45 minutes or until the cheese melts and starts to brown and the sauce is bubbling. Enjoy while hot.