Manicotti (Tuesday, February 1, 2011)

Erin and I were trapped in the house all day, held down by the storm of the century which, as usual, didn't turn out to be as disastrous as the weathermen had bet.  Erin had some ricotta cheese in the fridge and some manicotti in the pantry.

First, per the recipe for "Cheese Filling" in The Joy of Cooking I emptied the 24 oz tub of ricotta (rather than the 15 ozs called for in the recipe) into a bowl and beat it with a whisk to fluff it up.  I then added 3 medium eggs (the recipe calls for 2 large) into the bowl and whisked them in one at a time.  Finally, 3/4 cup of grated parmesan, salt and pepper were added and whisked in.

Salted water was brought to a boil and in went the manicotti.  This is the first time I've encountered a 14 pack of anything.  They boiled for about 6 minutes until they were not even al dente.  They were just softened enough to be pliable.  The rest of the cooking would happen in the oven later.  I let them cool before stuffing them with the cheese filling.  At first I tried to use a spoon to fill them.  This made a huge mess so I again turned to the ever useful ziplock bag.  I filled it and snipped off the end.  Filling the tubes of pasta vertically was again, messy, as the cheese filling was easily pulled out of the end by gravity.  I opted to place the tubes on the counter sideways, insert the cut corner a half inch and use my free hand to squeeze the bag until I saw the cheese near the opposite end of the pasta.  I placed them all into the pan one at a time until it was full.  Then I shoved in two more cause I'm a rebel!  Into the refrigerator this went until dinner time.

When dinner time came around, we simply poured a jar of sauce over the pasta and topped it with a few handfuls of mozzeralla and some sprinkles of parmesan, popped it into a 400 degree oven and waited 20 minutes.  It wasn't done as the recipe said it would be, and so we put it in for another 15 minutes, and then another.  Erin got increasingly grumpy as this process continued.  Then, to her dismay, we had to let it sit for about 10 minutes before dishing up.  Some Pillsbury breadsticks, two tall glasses of water and some reruns of "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" finished off the meal.  But, the housewives left a strong numbing aftertaste of collagen, silicone and botox on the tongue.  Really though, it was pretty good and simple.  I plan to use a similar cheese filling recipe with some homemade ravioli to come in the next few days.  Change the pasta from rolled to flat and perhaps add some sausage and you'd have a killer lasagna.  Hopefully the roads are too dangerous for work tomorrow too!