Tonight's main course was made on a a double dare - as in "I dare you to eat spinach", and "I double dare you to complain". Hey, I said not too long ago that GMan never complains, and that remains true today. Although he enjoys raw spinach, he's loathe to eat the cooked variety. I'm not sure that he's changed his mind like he has on curry in its various forms, but he ate dinner anyway. He did not however go back for seconds, which in our house is tantamount to insult. Buck up buttercup - guess what's for lunch tomorrow?
This recipe is from Food Network - http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/shells-with-crispy-pancetta-and-spinach-recipe/index.html . Giada used shells, but I wasn't going to pay what Sprouts wanted for the darn things - $7.00 for a bag of pasta was a little excessive in my books, so I made manicotti instead and I've still got a half bag left to make another batch using MEAT so the big guy doesn't have to be such a martyr. I cut Giada's recipe in half which was enough to fill 13 manicotti. I also increased the quantity of cream - I used 3/4 cup heavy cream and 3/4 cup of half and half. Comments on the recipe indicated that the pasta was dry, so I made the change to increase the liquid but didn't change any of the other ingredient quantities.
I always read the comments on recipes - I mean, people usually know what they're doing and sometimes there's enough negative feedback, you realize the recipe needs to be overhauled. Of course, there's always the odd "odd" comment - like I made your souffle' recipe and it fell when it came out of the oven..why did it happen...what did I do wrong? Well...dahhh... Bobby Flay doesn't have to worry about your taking his job over, does he?
Personally, I thought this was quite good. The flavor of the pancetta added some punch. I also liked the fact that the filling didn't have egg in it. It stayed together very well without, and had a firm texture that I enjoyed. You've just got to use fresh ground nutmeg though, and once you do, you'll never buy the pre-ground stuff again. There's such a huge difference in flavor, you won't believe it.
To wrap it up, honestly, how can you go wrong with cream and carbs? Have you a favorite manicotti recipe that you'd like to share? I'd love to hear from you.
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