BFFL Manicotti

On Thursday night our one (maybe only, but he's like, the best) BFFL friend came over and we made him dinner. We decided on Manicotti (My grandpa's favorite). I also found a recipe for Ricotta Cheese home made so I decided to try it. We have this great local dairy near our house that uses glass bottles and it's super cheap for as much milk as we drink. Using a local product also feels good, and using glass bottles is great, especially in a state that is virtually unconcerned with the concept of recycling (Californians you have it made. Talk about Global warming guilt. I wonder if the people who decide on the recycling rules here have ever watched Wall-E...just saying). Back to the food, the first time I made manicotti was when I had to cook dinner for my family in a cooking class in 7^th grade. I knew nothing about cooking chicken and I just remember it being super messy and all of the noodles splitting and being super frustrated, which is funny because now I find myself tearing the noodles open because it's easier to stuff them, and then just facing the tear towards the bottom of the baking pan. Things have so changed. Anyhoo, here is our rendition of Chicken Spinach Manicotti with home made Ricotta Cheese.

Why you should make Chicken Spinach Manicotti with home made Ricotta Cheese: Well, for starters, manicotti is a great way to spend time in the kitchen with your special someone. It is also super easy to make (so almost no brain power necessary). As for making Ricotta Cheese, I'm not sure if it is less expensive since it requires buttermilk which I mean, what else am I going to use this quarter of buttermilk for now? And cream, which, I will find a use for (see Game Day Quiche), and cheese cloth which, conveniently, the only other time of the year I use cheese cloth is Thanksgiving to cover the turkey, which is next week. So that's awesome. Does anyone know if you can freeze buttermilk? Is that a dumb question? Sorry. POINT: Home made ricotta cheese seriously is super SUPER easy to make and tastes WAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY better than store bought. WAY. BETTER.

BFFL Manicotti (Recipe invented by me)

The original cheese directions can be found HERE.

Cheese Ingredients

-4 cups whole milk

-1 C buttermilk

-1/3 C heavy cream

-Salt

 Everything else Ingredients

-manicotti noodles (it doesn't really matter what kind of noodle you use, but David lived with an Italian who was kind enough to inform us that Barilla is actually the number one pasta in Italy as claimed on their box (LOL). Although, we definitely saw a Barilla Pasta factory in Iowa, soooo...I don't know about that one.)

-1 large can of tomato sauce (The options are tiny, regular, and large, the large one.)

-1 chicken breast diced

-Seasonings: salt, pepper, fresh/dried basil, savory, minced garlic

-1/2 a package of spinach

Directions

Step 1. Those Chicks are so Hot. Dice up a chicken breast, it doesn't have to be pretty because you will be demolishing it later anyways. Tin foil that cookie sheet and spread a little olive oil around on it. Spread out the chicken and squish it as thin as possible so that it just cooks fast. Season it with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and whatever else you want it to taste like. Throw it in the oven. You can set a timer, or you can time it with how long it takes to make the next thing (This is the part where you get to feel like you have your own cooking show.)

Step 2. I Have a Cheesy Boyfriend. This process will take about 15 minutes, the amount of time that the chicken should be in the oven. Get a frying pan with tall-ish sides, or I guess a pot would really work, but you have to scoop out the cheese at the end, which might prove a bit difficult from a pot. Your choice. Get whatever type of heating container you would like, and pour in the whole milk (4 C), buttermilk(1C) and cream(1/3 C). Bring the liquid to a boil and watch it. My experience was that it did nothing for the first 5 minutes, and then when I turned back around to check on it, it looked completely curdled, but it was not yet. Even though it looks done, let it cook for a whole 15 minutes. I mixed it a few times with a spatula but the part that would normally sink to the bottom and get stuck to the pan (like with rice, or beans) actually floats up to the top. Fun Fact. The floaty chunks are called curds, and the rest of the liquid is the whey. Nursery rhymes anyone? TRUE LIFE. THEY AREN'T ALL JUST STORIES. The best part about making your own ricotta is that you get to use a cheese cloth for its god given purpose, MAKING CHEESE!! No ladies and gentlemen, this is not just something used to keep your turkey moist. Cheese making tiiiiimmmeee!!! Gosh, I felt so gourmet using a spoon to spoon out the whey and add salt (about ¾ tsp salt total). IT. FELT. AWESOME. Don't bother squeezing out any extra liquid, just try to leave as much liquid in the pan when you are scooping, as possible. If you do decide to squeeze out more liquid, and you get too excited and go overboard, you can always add a little cream to the cheese and it will moisten it right up! *note: if you eat the cheese right after you make it, it might not taste like what you are expecting. Well, if you eat plain ricotta a lot, it will, but I only eat ricotta IN things so it just tasted like solid milk when I first tried it and it was gross. But it was SOOOOO creaming and delicious in the final product. Set aside.

Step 3. Once the cheese is made, fill a pot with water, bring to a boil, and then cook the manicotti noodles.

Step 4. Pull the chicken out of the oven. Take a strong spatula and dice it up with the end of the spatula, pulling it off the baking sheet as you go. You want it in small enough pieces that it won't get in your way when you're stuffing your manicott, but big enough that it doesn't feel like canned chicken, because that freaks me out. Mix the chicken and the ricotta cheese in a large bowl. Here you can mix to taste, add salt, pepper, garlic powder, parsley, whatever you want. Set that to the side.

Step 5. take a big ol' hunkin' handful of spinach and put it in a frying pan/sauce pan/whatever you want that has a lid. Add like ½ C of water to the bottom and heat it until it flattens out. Drain (or use your already dirty slotted spoon from the cheese making) and add the spinach to the cheese and chicken mixture. Mix it up so everything is blended through really well.

Step 6. take your noodles out of the water and cool with cold water (just to speed up the process a little. I've heard on Chopped that this does both very good and very bad things to the noodles, but I'm not a noodle connoisseur, i'm a Central California Coast wine snob and a Peet's coffee drinker. Sue me.)

Step 7. If you have two people, start the sauce now. One of you can mix it and check on it and the other can stuff the noodles. 7a. Sauce: We save mega bucks and buy hunts tomato sauce in a can and add our own spices including but not limited to: pepper (it's already pretty salty), a dash of olive oil, garlic minced and powdered, basil leaves, dried savory, thyme, hot pepper flakes, and parsley. We also like to make our own sauce because we have spent literally hours of our lives standing in the sauce aisle arguing about what brand and what mix of sauce to get. It's embarrassing really. But also slightly hilarious. 7b. Now since we are baking the manicott, i'm going to blow your mind and make your life wonderful. NOBODY WILL KNOW IF YOU TEAR THE NOODLES TO STUFF THEM BECAUSE IT'S ALL MESSY WHEN IT COMES OUT OF THE OVEN. Split all the noodles (some of them will tear naturally) and “stuff” them with the cheese mixture. See how that took you 5 minutes instead of 15? Awesome right? I know. I'm smart because I have a degree.

Step 8. Oil the baking dish and add the manicotti, tear facing UPWARD. Once the sauce is to your tasty liking, pour it over the noodles in the baking dish. You can either add bread crumbs, or sliced mozzerella (from the deli so you don't have to slice it and don't have a ton extra left over. I figured this one out on my own, by the way. GO. ME.

Step 9. Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes until the cheese looks like what you want it to look like.

Step 10. Call Charlotte and tell her how awesome this recipe is.

Recap:

1.)Dice 1 chicken breast and bake on oiled cookie sheet in oven at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

2. Simmer 4 C whole milk, 1 C buttermilk, and 1/3 C cream for 15 minutes until separated. Spoon into cheese cloth lined strainer and transfer to large bowl.
3. Take chicken out of the oven and chop up into fine pieces with a spatula. Add to the cheese.
4. Boil water and cook manicotti noodles.
5. Steam large handful of spinach either in microwave or covered on the stove. Add to the cheese and chicken mix. Season to taste.
6. Strain manicotti noodles and stuff with mixture.
7. Pour tomato sauce over stuffed noodles in an oiled baking dish. Layer the top with sliced mozzerella.
8. Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes

Happy eating!-Charlotte, David, and our BFFL JP