There's just something about Italian food that makes you feel all warm and happy inside. Movies will tell you that for Italian chef's "food is love" or that you should "never trust a skinny Italian chef" ... I don't know about all of that, but I do know that when it was cold outside the other day I knew that only a nice filled pasta dish would do.
I thought about stuffing the pasta with the scallops I served for this meal, as well as the other fillings, but figured that might be over-kill for the simple, and classic, taste that I was going for. The scallops therefore were relegated to the side!
For the filling I started with the traditional cheese base, ricotta, and then decided to add a non-traditional kale to the garlic and peppers.
Kale & Pepper Stuffed Manicotti
6 pieces dried manicotti pasta (cook in salted, boiling water, for 7 minutes then cool on a rack before stuffing)
2 bunches kale
1 large yellow bell pepper
3 cloves of garlic (feel free to add as much more as you'd like)
2 cups ricotta cheese
2-3 cups of pasta sauce (red sauce or vodka sauce; may not use it all)
Preheat oven to 400F. Cook your kale however you prefer, I sauteed/steamed in a large saute pan to allow it to cook down (steamed) then ultimately removed most of the liquid via sauteing. I diced it and then transferred to a large bowl to cool. I then diced the pepper and the garlic and sauteed them until the pepper was just soft and then added to the kale.
Once the veggies had cooled to room temperature I added the ricotta and stirred until it was well mixed. I then stuffed the manicotti with the mixture (don't worry if you have a little filling left over, it will be great in an omlette the next morning) and put them in a single layer in a baking dish. I covered the manicotti with the sauce (I used vodka sauce for this dish), topped with a little shredded parmesan cheese and then popped it into the oven for about 25 minutes. Once cooked remove and serve with a spatula, enjoy!
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