authentic homemade manicotti

I grew up in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. The block we lived on was mostly Italian, and I spent almost as much time in the kitchens of my Italian friends’ mothers and grandmothers as I did in my own. So, I think I’m as justified in calling myself an Italian cook as I am a Jewish one. This is the way manicotti was made on my block.

You’ll see that there’s no mountain of mozzarella draped over the pasta rolls. Americans tend to go much heavier on the cheese than Italians do, when making Italian dishes. A good, simple, homemade sauce from scratch, and a gentle grating of Locatelli, Gran Padano, or Parmigiano Reggiano in the filling and over the top, allow the tender shells and fluffy ricotta filling to take center stage.

When making a dish that requires only a few ingredients, it’s critical that each ingredient be of the highest quality. If you have an Italian market near you that makes its own ricotta, go for it. If not, get what you can from the supermarket, but make sure that it’s whole milk, and not part skim, ricotta. For the best sauce, use only certified San Marzano tomatoes. Not San Marzano style. They are naturally sweet and lower in acid than other canned tomatoes, and thus require no tricks—no sugar, no baking soda—to make your sauce be fabulous.

Although we’re not covering the manicotti with mozzarella, we do want some for the filling. This, my friends, is not the place for a delicious fresh ball of cheese. You want the stuff in the package, such as Galbani or Polly-O, because fresh mozzarella just doesn’t melt the same way. Once again, go for the whole milk version over the part skim.

I recommend making your own pasta. You don’t need a fancy pasta-making machine to do this—just a small non-stick pan and a thin batter. If you’d rather, you can use store-bought, dried manicotti shells, but I think you’ll find that after boiling the shells (tossing out the ones that tear while cooking), draining them, and stuffing them, it takes no less time than making them from scratch. And you get to skip the frustration of having to shove the filling into the shells with a spoon, or your fingers, or by first transferring it to a pastry bag, all the while trying not to tear them.

Do use fresh flat-leaf parsley and basil, and avoid the dried stuff here. And as a general rule, please stay away from anything called “Italian seasoning.” Italians use lots of seasonings but they don’t use all of them in every dish they make.

A dash of nutmeg is a great addition to the filling. You can use the pre-ground stuff in the jar, but if you get yourself a whole nutmeg and give it 3 seconds of grating with a microplane, I suspect it will be the only nutmeg you ever use going forward. The taste is incomparable. In fact, until I tried grating my own, I thought I didn’t like nutmeg.

Feel free to make the sauce a day in advance if you like. I usually make a lot and freeze it in quart-sized containers.

You can make the whole thing a day in advance if you like, and bake it when you’re ready to serve.

So let’s get cooking!

Basic San Marzano Tomato Sauce

Feel free to double or triple the ingredients for stocking the freezer. It’s wonderful just as it is, or use it as a base for making vodka sauce, meat sauce, seafood sauce, or specialty sauces like the one I use for eggplant parmesan.

Don’t skimp on the oil—it’s an integral part of the flavor of the sauce.

And don’t skimp on the garlic—it may seem like a lot but it will mellow while cooking. In fact, if you like a stronger garlic flavor, you can add another finely minced clove or two in the last 10 minutes cooking.

And don’t skimp on the salt. An under-salted sauce tastes flat. Salt actually brings out the natural sugars in the tomatoes.

The onion is optional. The most basic sauce doesn’t include onion, but a little bit adds a nice flavor.

Don’t use pre-packaged grated cheese. Do splurge on real, imported Italian hard cheese, such as

Ingredients:

2 cans Certified San Marzano tomatoes (28 ounce cans) Make sure the label says “Pomodoro San Marzano dell’Agro Sarnese- Nocerino DOP.” That way, you know you have the real thing;

1/2 cup best quality fruity, Certified Italian extra virgin olive oil (I like Kirkland brand from Costco-not the organic one!)

Optional—one small onion, very finely chopped

6 large cloves fresh garlic, thinly sliced

1/3 cup fresh basil leaves, torn or chopped

2 teaspoons salt

Several grinds of the pepper mill

Optional—a leftover rind of parmesan cheese, or ¼ cup finely grated Locatelli, Gran Padano, or Parmigiano Reggiano

Method:

You have two choices—you can pre-purée the tomatoes in a food processor, or you can add them whole and purée them later with an immersion blender. I usually go the latter route.

In a pot sized for the amount of sauce you’ll be making, warm the oil. Add the onion if using, and sauté, stirring with a wooden spoon, until it’s translucent. Do not allow it to develop color. Add the garlic and sauté for a minute or two, stirring. Again, do not allow it to brown.

Add the tomatoes. If you’re going to purée them later, chop them up roughly in the pot. Add 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt and several grinds of the pepper mill. If you’re using a cheese rind, add it now.

Let the sauce simmer for 20 minutes.

If you’ve added a cheese rind, remove it now. If you didn’t purée the tomatoes at the beginning, whip out your immersion blender and do it now.

Add the grated cheese if you want to use it. I personally like the richness it provides.

Stir, and taste the sauce. If you’d like more garlic, add another clove or two, finely minced or pressed. Add another ½ teaspoon salt if it tastes flat. Add the basil.

Simmer for another 10-15 minutes. Your sauce is done.

For the Pasta Crepes

Ingredients:

• 6 extra-large eggs

• 12 ounces cold water

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon salt

• Method:

• In a medium bowl, beat the eggs together with the water.

• Slowly whisk in the flour and the salt until smooth.

• Let the batter rest for at least 30 minutes. An hour is even better.

• Make the filling while the batter is resting

• Dip a paper towel in neutral oil and rub it lightly over an 8 inch non stick skillet.

• Heat the skillet and pour ¼ cup batter into the middle of the pan.

• Swirl the pan to coat it evenly with the batter. Let it cook for one minute until the surface of the crepe is dry.

• Slide the crepe out of the pan onto plate or cutting board and cover it with a sheet of parchment or plastic wrap.

• Re-oil the pan and make the next crepe. Repeat until you’ve used all the batter.

• Keep the crepes covered so that they don’t dry out, removing them one by one as you make the manicotti.

For the Filling:

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds whole milk ricotta cheese

• 8 ounces whole milk mozzarella, shredded, plus more for the top if you want

• Don’t use pre-shredded mozzarella. The coating on it will prevent it from melting properly.

• 2 eggs

• ½ cup grated Italian hard cheese— Locatelli, Gran Padano, or Parmigiano Reggiano—plus a little more for the top

• A few gratings of nutmeg—a little is nice; too much is overwhelming

• ¼ cup chopped flat leaf Italian parsley

• ¼ cup chopped fresh basil

• Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

• Optional—10 ounce box of frozen chopped spinach, defrosted, all the moisture squeezed out.

Method:

• Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir well until they’re thoroughly mixed. Taste for salt.

Putting it all together:

• Preheat the oven to 350°.

• Spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of a 9” X 13” baking pan.

• Lay out one crepe, browned side up.

• Top with about 3 tablespoons of the filling. Using the back of a spoon evenly spread the filling over the crepe, leaving a 1/2” margin all around.

• Roll the crepe around the filling and lay it in the pan, seam side down. Continue rolling the manicotti, laying them one against the next in the pan.

• When the pan is full, ladle more sauce over the top. You want to cover them well, but not have them drowning in sauce. If you have more manicotti than will fit in the pan, you can make a second pan.

• Sprinkle the top with more grated Locatelli and cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil.
  Slide the pan into the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Then remove the foil.

• If you want to add mozzarella to the top, do it now. Use a light hand. It should not be suffocating in cheese.

• Return the pan to the oven and back for another 20 minutes, or until the pan is bubbling and the top is beginning to brown. Let stand for a few minutes before serving.