My mind went all kinds of directions with this one. Beans and mustard…in an entrée…hmmm? At first I thought about a black bean burger with a mustard sauce or an obvious piece of salmon or pork tenderloin with a creamy dill sauce would have been good. Even an entrée type of bean and greens salad with a mustard vinaigrette would have worked.
But I wanted to do something out of the box so I whipped up this white bean manicotti with a simple dill mustard béchamel sauce. It turned out so good! The beans give the dish much more staying power as an entrée instead of the usual cheese stuffed manicotti.
The béchamel sauce has a lingering, dill mustard flavor that is totally unexpected but goes so nicely with the filling.
The beans are easily blended with the other ingredients in the food processor in about 1-2 minutes. You will have to push down the sides a couple times to get it blended properly.
Manicotti shells are easily filled using a pastry bag or Ziploc bag with the corner cut off to pipe in. If you are not comfortable holding the pastry bag and the shell at the same time, have your hubby or the kids hold the shell at a downward angle while you pipe in the filling.
Creamy Dill White Bean Manicotti
Ingredients
For the Filling:
- 1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
- 2 large eggs
- 1 can (15 oz) garbanzo beans
- 1/2 cup white kidney beans (cannellini)
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 (8 oz) package dry manicotti shells (16 shells)
For the Dill Bechamel Sauce:
- 5 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 cups whole milk
- 1/2 cup Saucy Mama Dill Mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon fresh nutmeg
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese
- fresh oregano, optional
Directions
- To the bowl of a food processor add the cream cheese, ricotta cheese, eggs, beans (both kinds), garlic, pepper and salt. Process until a creamy paste is formed. You will have to push down the sides of the bowl a couple of times.
- Scoop filling into a pastry bag or a Ziploc bag (cut the corner off once filling is in place). Pipe filling into uncooked manicotti shells until full. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- To make the sauce, in a large saucepan melt butter over med-low heat. Whisk in flour to make a roux. Cook and stir for 2 minutes to help cook out the flour taste (do not brown).
- Gradually add milk into roux. Stir constantly to prevent sticking. Add mustard and keep stirring. Cook until thickened, about 5-8 minutes, whisking all sides of the pan constantly. When thick, add salt, pepper and nutmeg.
- Fill the bottom of a 3-quart baking dish with about 1 cup of the sauce. Place manicotti filled shells on top of the sauce and top with the rest of the sauce and mozzarella cheese. (it will seem saucy but don't worry, it's not.) Cover baking dish with aluminum foil.
- Bake for 40 minutes covered. Remove aluminum foil and bake for 15 minutes more. Remove from oven and let stand 15 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with fresh oregano.
Two manicotti shells are plenty per person when served with a salad and garlic bread.
Tieghan says
These look SO good! All that cheese and pasta! Plus, dill is one of my favorite herbs!
Anna @ Crunchy Creamy Sweet says
This sounds fabulous! Love Saucy Mama mustard!
Pat says
I can’t wait to try this one…looks so delicious!
Stephanie @cookinfanatic says
Wow these sound absolutely amazing! What a fun twist on manicotti!!
katie says
Cathy, I would never think to make a white bean manicotti–this looks and sounds so good!
Meredith in sock monkey slippers says
love the combo!
Kiran @ KiranTarun.com says
Creamy decadence!
Carla @ Gluten Free Recipe Box says
I’ve been wanting to make some gluten free manicotti with my one of my homemade gluten free pasta recipes. This looks awesome! Thanks.
Jen @ Savory Simple says
Dill Bechamel? Yes please!
kristy @ the wicked noodle says
Oh my gosh, Cathy, you will definitely make the next round with this dish! Looks so good and so creative!
Nikola says
Those look tremendous; a touch of rosemary would great with the dill. These look fantastic, I can’t wait to try them!
Cathy says
Well, thank you! Rosemary does sound good.
Nossi @ The kosher gastronome says
Looks really neat. An idea if you don’t want to mess around with stuffing manicotti tubes, is using lasagna noodles, and rolling it up…just a thought…but I definitely plan on giving these a try
Cathy says
I’ve done that, works really nicely.
Priscilla | ShesCookin says
Your creative juices are flowing! I did the Saucy Mama contest a few years back – if this doesn’t win it, I’ll eat that baking sheet – with the manicotti, of course đŸ˜‰
Cathy says
Oh you are too kind!
Angie | Big Bear's Wife says
What a treat! I’ve never ventured far from the traditional manicotti but I’m thinking that I need to make a change. I could imagine that the Saucy Mama Dill Mustard give this an amazing flavor!
Cathy says
It really does!
Kathie says
I just wanted to tell you I made this for dinner tonight and it was absolutely delicious!! I don’t have the saucy mama brand where I’m at so I used a champaign dill mustard instead. Love this recipe!
Cathy says
So great!!