Spinach & Ricotta Manicotti

To complete the Italian trifecta I unintentionally set myself up for over the past couple weeks, today I'm sharing a recipe for spinach and ricotta manicotti! Biscotti, bread, and manicotti...February has been a good, carb-filled month for Evan and me.

I was raised on a lot of Italian food – my mom would make some kind of pasta every single Sunday night for dinner. On Sunday afternoons, we would get to enjoy the smell of sauce on the stove, and then we would all sit together at the dinner table over pasta and bread. For a long time, it was meatballs and spaghetti or rigatoni (the pasta shape debate happened on a weekly basis), and then as our taste buds matured a little, lasagna or ravioli. As all of us got older and it became harder to try to get everyone at the dinner table on weeknights, we could always count on Sundays.

My mom's homemade pasta sauce holds the title for my most favorite sauce of all time. For a long time, out of pure laziness, I've used storebought sauce – to be fair, some of them really aren't bad! But lately, I've taken to making my own homemade sauce too. I don't have a recipe for it exactly, and I'm still playing around with things (I made a kickin' arrabbiata sauce a few weeks back), but I feel especially accomplished today because I'm really not taking any shortcuts for this recipe – aside from not making the manicotti shells from scratch. There's nothing wrong with shortcuts here and there, especially if you're short on time, but nothing compares to the feeling of accomplishment you get from a fully-homemade and delicious dinner.

I don't recall my mom preparing manicotti for us more than maybe once – she preferred to make stuffed shells if she was going to do a dish like this. Shells are definitely easier to fill, and they're smaller so it's easier to get the exact portion size you want. However, manicotti are a bit more portable, and Evan and I wanted to be able to take leftovers to work for lunch! Between the spinach in the filling and the tomato sauce, as well as the use of part-skim mozzarella, eating these for few meals within one week isn't such a bad thing. Not that I ever feel that bad about eating Italian food anyway.

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SPINACH & RICOTTA MANICOTTI

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Bake Time: ~30 minutes

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 box manicotti pasta shells

7 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed

15 oz ricotta cheese

1 egg

2 c grated mozzarella cheese

½ c grated parmesan cheese

1 clove garlic, minced

1 T lemon juice

½ t salt

¼ t pepper

3 c pasta sauce

Directions

Prepare the manicotti shells according to the instructions on the package. They should be a little al dente. Set aside to cool off for a few minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare a large baking pan* by spreading a layer of sauce over the entire bottom of the pan.

Squeeze out the thawed spinach until you've removed as much water as possible. Then, in a medium bowl, beat (by hand) the ricotta, the chopped spinach, and the egg until well-incorporated and slightly fluffy. Then add 1½ c of the mozzarella cheese (not all of it!), all the parmesan, the minced garlic, the lemon juice, and the salt and pepper. Stir until you have a uniform, sticky mixture.

Either spoon or pipe the mixture into each manicotti shell. It's easiest if you use both sides of each shell to make sure you're getting it filled. Then, arrange the stuffed manicotti in the pan with the sauce. They can be close, but try to avoid letting them touch. Top the manicotti with the remaining sauce – feel free to set a little aside to use later when serving too – and sprinkle the remaining mozzarella on top as well.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbling and you can see the noodles are just starting to harden around the edges. If you saved a little sauce, I recommend setting that on the table in a gravy bowl in case anyone needs to add a little more sauce to their plate. Speaking from experience here...my family always adds extra sauce to dishes like this.

*Note: a 9x13 probably won't be large enough here. You may need to split this into two pans – I had to do one 9x13 and one 7x9 in order to give each manicotti a little space. They cooked for about 20-22 minutes each.

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Happy Eating,

Natalie

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