Yes- it’s another WFD diary, from the hallowed canon of Lydia Bastianich’s slooooooow food…
There’s just no getting around the labor-intensive demands of this dish, but it’s well worth the effort (many times over). 😊
First, the ingredients (from left to right):
Pasta: Shown in the photo are two ¼ lb. sheets of fresh egg pasta, from the pasta factory that’s serendipitously close to my house. I cut each sheet into quarters, as 8 manicotti rolls fits just about perfectly in my 9” x 13” baking pan.
Salt
Nutmeg
Eggs
Parmigiano-Reggiano (and Romano): Although Lydia’s recipe only specifies the former, I prefer to mix the parm reg with some romano (which then allows me to use less salt than the amount given in the recipe).
Fresh Mozzarella: Unfortunately my photography skills are not on par with my enthusiasm for cooking… So it’s hard to tell from this poor quality image, but there’s actually two piles of mozzarella on the cutting board- the one on the left is grated (for going over the top of the manicotti), and the one on the right is in cubes (for the filling of the manicotti tubes). I also use more than double the amount of grated mozzarella than what she has in the recipe.
Parsley
Ricotta: As to why it’s on coffee filters, in a colander- to quote from the recipe page:
Spoon the ricotta into a large, fine-mesh sieve or a colander lined with a double thickness of cheesecloth or a basket-type coffee filter. Set the sieve over a bowl and cover the ricotta well with plastic wrap. Let the ricotta drain in the refrigerator at least overnight, or up to 24 hours. Discard the liquid in the bottom of the bowl.
Tomato Sauce: My husband makes a vegetarian tomato sauce (using fake ground meat & fake meatballs) in huge batches, which we keep in the freezer and use as needed (like for manicotti, and also lasagna, ravioli, eggplant parmesan… it does amaze me how much Italian food we eat, considering that neither one of us is Italian…) Anyway- I included a jar of tomato sauce in the photo because I didn’t think those two containers of our homemade sauce were going to be enough, but it turned to be just the right amount, so I actually didn’t end up using that jar of sauce.
Now, the preparation:
First spread a layer of tomato sauce on the bottom of the baking pan. Then make the manicotti filling (by first whisking the eggs in a bowl with some salt, and then add the ricotta, mozzarella cubes, parsley, nutmeg, and half of the grated parmesan & romano, and mix it all together. I should mention that the recipe also calls for a small amount of pepper for the filling, but I generally don’t bother with it.) Then put a few tablespoons of the filling into each pasta square-
and shape the filled pasta squares into tubes, and arrange them side by side in the baking pan-
and cover it all in tomato sauce, and sprinkle the remaining grated parmesan & romano over it-
Then cover the dish loosely with aluminum foil (Lydia also recommends to “poke the foil several times with a fork”), and bake for around 20 minutes. Then remove the foil, sprinkle the grated mozzarella over the top, and bake for another 20 minutes. And then, (finally, at last- joy of joys), dinnertime…
Buon Appetito!