Italian Comfort Food

There are few foods that are as comforting to me as Italian food.  Even though it seems so uninspired to serve Italian at a dinner party there is always a part of me that really wants a simple, rich, tomato-y dish accompanied by fresh baked bread.  Last weekend I caved to this desire, deciding on manicotti.  But to make it seem less like an act of uncreative laziness I decided to make the pasta myself, something that turned out to be amazingly simple and very delicious.

If you want to embark on a manicotti-making adventure of your own, here’s how:

For the shells (about 12 large ones), blend the following together in a blender until smooth:

4 eggs

1.5 cups water

1.5 cups flour

3/4 tsp salt

Heat a frying pan on medium high heat and sprinkle with olive oil.  For larger shells use a little less than half a cup of batter, pouring it into the center of the pan and gently swirling it to make a very thin pancake (pretty much exactly like a crepe).  Let cook on one side for about a minute or two, then flip and let cook about 45 seconds more.  Stack the shells with wax paper between them until read to use.

Filling:

There are many different fillings that are excellent in manicotti, so feel free to get creative.  I opted for a spinach chicken filling.  All manicotti fillings I’ve seen have the basic ricotta/cottage cheese and egg base:

3 eggs

3.5 cups ricotta/cottage cheese

1.5 cup grated mozzarella

1 cup grated pecorino cheese (I bet Parmesan would work too)

2 cups chopped cooked chicken (I used a fresh rotisserie chicken, which was already nicely seasoned)

salt and pepper to taste

3 cloves fresh garlic, minced

3 tsp finely minced fresh rosemary

3 Tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped

Several generous handfuls fresh coarsely chopped spinach

Combine all the ingredients.  Spoon a generous amount of filling into the center of a shell and fold over to form sort of a burrito.  Lay in a bed of tomato sauce in a 13×9 pan.  Cover with more tomato sauce and fresh grated mozzarella and pecorino.  Bake at 350 until hot and bubbly and the cheese has browned, about 40-45 minutes.  Serve with a fresh salad (I used fresh strawberries, toasted almonds and goat cheese with a honey mustard dressing), hot no-knead bread and plenty of red wine!