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Pheasant Manicotti

This recipe originally started out as Stuffed Shells, the only thing I was missing were the shells!! I had gone to the local Walmart to pick some up and the whole pasta/noodle isle was pretty much empty, along with most of the other isles. I decided I'd try Kroger in Corinth Mississippi, I hit their pasta isle and while they did have more pasta than Walmart, they didn't have any large shells either. Next ... I tried the Kroger in Savannah Tennessee, still no large shells! Food Giant, Piggy Wiggly ... no shells, no shells. Everybody is out of everything! Knowing that I had everything else I needed at home, I just need to find some large shells. I was ready to give up and thinking it just wasn't meant to be when I saw some Manicotti noodles at Piggy Wiggly and decided to just use those instead. So this is now Pheasant Manicotti!!



A lot of times, this is just how my cooking projects go. I plan on cooking one thing and end up cooking something else. I could have held out until I had found some large pasta shells, but I already had a lot of ingredients prepared plus my pheasant meat had been laid out, so it needed to be used.

Ingredients

Pheasant Manicotti

Manicotti Filling

Italian Seasoning

Instructions

Pheasant Manicotti

Step #1 If not using store bought Italian Seasoning. Mix together the ingredients for Italian Seasoning. These quantities will make a large batch, way more than you need for this recipe. Store in a small mason jar to use later or half the recipe to make a smaller batch.

Step #2 Preheat Oven to 350. Dice up shallot and garlic

Step #3 Heat one tablespoon of Olive Oil in skillet on medium heat. Add one pound of Ground Pheasant. Season with salt, black pepper, and 1/2 tablespoon of Italian Seasoning

Step #4 Cook until browned, then remove to plate

Step #5 Add diced Shallot to hot skillet and cook 4-5 minutes.

Step #6 Add garlic and cook for one minute

Step #7 Add San Marzano peeled tomatoes

Step #8 Add Salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes and one tablespoon of Italian seasoning.

Step #9 Pour in 1/4 cup of Pheasant Stock

Step #10 Allow the tomato sauce to reach a simmer, then reduce heat to low. Use spatula to combine all the ingredients. Cook tomatoes until they break down, about 30 to 60 minutes.

Step #11 Divide the ground pheasant in half, adding half to the tomato sauce and the other half to a mixing bowl.

Step #12 Add about 8 cups of water to large stock pot, with heat set to high. When water reaches a boil, add a couple handfuls of salt.

Step #13 Then reduce heat and add Manicotti noodles.

Step #14 Cook for about 8 minutes then remove to plate and drizzle with olive oil to keep them from sticking together.

Step #15 Next let's work on our filling. Add Ricotta to the mixing bowl with ground pheasant.

Step #16 Add Parmesan Cheese, Salt and Pepper, Italian Seasoning, Egg and Chopped Spinach

Step #17 Use spatula to combine.

Step #18 Spray 9 x 13 baking dish with vegetable or olive oil spray

Step #19 Spoon in enough tomato sauce to cover the bottom of the dish.

Step #20 Add filling to a piping bag or zip lock bag with one of the corners cut out. Use your bag of filling to fill the Manicotti noodles.

Step #21 Place each filled noodle in the baking dish on top of tomato sauce.

Step #22 Cover with remaining tomato sauce

Step #23 Sprinkle with Mozzarella and Parmesan or an Italian cheese blend.

Step #24 Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes

Step #25 Garnish with fresh chopped Parsley and/or Basil.

Recipe Card

Pheasant Manicotti

Written by Jeff Davis Visit : Visit authors website

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Prep Time: 30 min - Cook Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

Pheasant Manicotti

1 Box Manicotti Noodles

1 lbs Ground Pheasant

28 oz San Marzano Peeled Tomatoes

1/4 cup(s) Pheasant Stock

1 Shallot

3 Garlic Cloves

2 tbsp Italian Seasoning

1/2 tbsp Dried Basil

Red Pepper Flakes

Olive Oil

Mozzarella Cheese

Parmesan Cheese

2-3 leaves Fresh Basil

Fresh Parsley

Cooking Spray

Salt and Pepper

Manicotti Filling

15 oz Ricotta Cheese

1/2 g Cooked Ground Pheasant - half of pheasant from above

1/2 cup(s) Parmesan Cheese

1 cup(s) Chopped Spinach

1/2 tbsp Italian Seasoning

Freshly cracked pepper

Kosher Salt

1 Egg

Italian Seasoning

4 tbsp Dried Oregano

4 tbsp Dried Basil

4 tbsp Dried Parsley

2 tbsp Rubbed Sage

2 tbsp Crushed Rosemary

2 tbsp Ground Thyme

2 tbsp Marjoram

1 tbsp Crushed Red Pepper

Instructions

Pheasant Manicotti

Step #1 - If not using store bought Italian Seasoning. Mix together the ingredients for Italian Seasoning. These quantities will make a large batch, way more than you need for this recipe. Store in a small mason jar to use later or half the recipe to make a smaller batch.

Step #2 - Preheat Oven to 350. Dice up shallot and garlic

Step #3 - Heat one tablespoon of Olive Oil in skillet on medium heat. Add one pound of Ground Pheasant. Season with salt, black pepper, and 1/2 tablespoon of Italian Seasoning

Step #4 - Cook until browned, then remove to plate

Step #5 - Add diced Shallot to hot skillet and cook 4-5 minutes.

Step #6 - Add garlic and cook for one minute

Step #7 - Add San Marzano peeled tomatoes

Step #8 - Add Salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes and one tablespoon of Italian seasoning.

Step #9 - Pour in 1/4 cup of Pheasant Stock

Step #10 - Allow the tomato sauce to reach a simmer, then reduce heat to low. Use spatula to combine all the ingredients. Cook tomatoes until they break down, about 30 to 60 minutes.

Step #11 - Divide the ground pheasant in half, adding half to the tomato sauce and the other half to a mixing bowl.

Step #12 - Add about 8 cups of water to large stock pot, with heat set to high. When water reaches a boil, add a couple handfuls of salt.

Step #13 - Then reduce heat and add Manicotti noodles.

Step #14 - Cook for about 8 minutes then remove to plate and drizzle with olive oil to keep them from sticking together.

Step #15 - Next let's work on our filling. Add Ricotta to the mixing bowl with ground pheasant.

Step #16 - Add Parmesan Cheese, Salt and Pepper, Italian Seasoning, Egg and Chopped Spinach

Step #17 - Use spatula to combine.

Step #18 - Spray 9 x 13 baking dish with vegetable or olive oil spray

Step #19 - Spoon in enough tomato sauce to cover the bottom of the dish.

Step #20 - Add filling to a piping bag or zip lock bag with one of the corners cut out. Use your bag of filling to fill the Manicotti noodles.

Step #21 - Place each filled noodle in the baking dish on top of tomato sauce.

Step #22 - Cover with remaining tomato sauce

Step #23 - Sprinkle with Mozzarella and Parmesan or an Italian cheese blend.

Step #24 - Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes

Step #25 - Garnish with fresh chopped Parsley and/or Basil.

About the Author

Jeff Davis

You may think cooking and recipes don’t have much to do with a website dedicated to hunting dogs ... but really, why do we hunt? Sure, we enjoy watching our dogs work in the field and being outdoors, but ultimately, hunting is about survival and feeding our families. We might as well try to do it well. I'm not a chef and definitely no food authority ... but I do like to eat and enjoy cooking. After searching for people willing to share their recipes on Gundog Central, without much success, I decided to try to do a few on my own, with my wife Tami's help. The recipes I share here are things I like to eat and have made here at home. I've tried to include step-by-step instructions with each meal describing exactly how I did it, but my method may not be best, if you decide to try a recipe posted here, please use whatever technique you think works best, I'm simply sharing how I did it. You'll see a lot of recipes where I've tried to make things from starch, when I could have just used store bought ingredients, simply because I wanted to learn how something was done. My goal is to continually update these recipes as I learn new things and techniques. These are my attempts at creating good, home cooked food, that I would like to eat! If I'm sharing it here, my family and I enjoyed it and I believe you will too.