Wild Mushroom Manicotti

Another healthy recipe from food network:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_28130,00.html

manicotti shells are kind of hard to find - I got mine at Central Market. It's easy to make your own, I just wasn't feeling up to it yesterday (coming down with the flu).

Here's my version of the recipe:

Manicotti Stuffing:

1/2 cup shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and caps sliced thinly
6 large manicotti shells
Olive oil

1/2 pound lean ground turkey
6 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 small onion, finely sliced

1 shallot, finely sliced
4 ounces jarred roasted red bell peppers, chopped
1/2 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon course black pepper
Tomato Sauce, recipe follows
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan

1/2 cup Pecorino Romano, grated
Preheat oven 350 degrees F.

Sauce:
Tomato Sauce:
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic, pressed

1/2 cup sliced shiitake mushrooms

1/2 small onion, minced

1 shallot, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 1/2 cups prepared tomato sauce (I used garlic lover's organic tomato sauce)

Boil Manicotti shells in salted boiling water for 8-10 minutes, drain, and cool. Make sure to separate them out right away so they don't stick together and tear later. Coat a medium-sized baking dish with olive oil and set aside.

Prepare your ingredients:

Heat a nonstick pan over medium heat, and coat with olive oil as it is heating. Add ground turkey and brown, breaking it up to cook evenly. Drain fat from pan. Add garlic and onions and cook until onions are translucent, about 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and continue cooking for 1 to 2 minutes. Add roasted peppers and cook for about 2 minutes. Turn off the heat, and stir in the ricotta. Add salt and pepper, to taste.

The turkey doesn't pipe well since it has sliced mushroom and onion in it. I just used my fingers to stuff the manicotti shells by hand. If you make homeade manicotti you can just roll the stuffing up in it like sausage.

Place the stuffed manicotti shells in the prepared baking dish and make the sauce.

To make tomato sauce:

Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add garlic, onion, mushrooms, and dried oregano, and saute until onion is translucent. Add tomato sauce and bring to a simmer.

Top the manicotti shells with tomato sauce and then sprinkle Parmesan and Romano cheeses over top. Bake for 25 minutes. Serve .

This recipe also reheats well.