Turkey Manicotti

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Make the tomato sauce. In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and mushrooms and cook, stirring for about a minute, until fragrant. Add the tomatoes, red pepper flakes, salt, oregano, pepper and basil and stir. Bring the sauce to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Set aside.

Make the filling for the manicotti. In a large saucepan, over medium heat, add the turkey, garlic and mushrooms, and cook, stirring and breaking up the turkey, until the turkey is cooked through, with no pink areas remaining. Move this mixture to a bowl and set aside. To the same pan, add the chicken stock and bring it to a boil over medium heat. Whisk the milk and flour together in a small bowl until smooth then pour it slowly into the chicken stock, whisking constantly while pouring. Add the salt, pepper, onion powder, thyme and curry powder and continue whisking the mixture until it thickens, about 2-3 minutes. Add the meat mixture back to the pan and stir to combine. Remove from the heat.

Into a 9×13 inch baking dish, place the uncooked manicotti noodles. Fill each noodle with the turkey filling. I find it easiest to hold the noodle upright, with one end flat on the baking dish, and spoon the filling in until it is full, then lay it down. Don’t worry about the filling spilling out. It’s OK and any leftover filling can just be spooned around the noodles on the bottom of the dish.

Once the noodles are all filled, spread the cottage cheese over top of them all. Pour the tomato sauce over top of this and spread it out evenly. Sprinkle the mozzarella and Parmesan cheese over top of the tomato sauce.

Bake for 50 minutes until the cheese is bubbly. Remove from oven. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Adapted from recipes on gimmesomeoven.com.