Mom's Homemade Manicotti

 At first, the recipe looked quite involved, and I waited on planning this recipe for a day when I had unlimited time to devote to it. Turns out, it is really just the noodles that require time and attention. everything else comes together pretty quickly.

I used a durum wheat semolina and a "00" flour, mostly because we had them leftover from a cooking class I took with The Resident Archaeologist, learning to make pasta.  The filling mixes up easily. I chose to use cottage cheese and ricotta cheese, but the recipe calls for cottage cheese and shredded mozzarella. I think you could substitute just about anything. Next time I think I'll try spinach and ricotta.

The sauce is a basic tomato sauce. The noodles (which look more like little crepes, to me) require a strip of filling then you roll it and place seam side down in a pan, and pour the sauce over it all and bake it. Really quite delish, and I will definitely plan on making this again. Will probably try it with a variety of flours, to see which ones we like best.

This recipe completes the Pasta & Pizza chapter in the Bicentennial cookbook.




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