Ricotta and spinach manicotti and cooking = power

Not until recently I started thinking of cooking as something both empowering and liberating and that comes to my mind when I think of certain passages of my childhood.

In the period between my mom’s death and my father marrying again my paternal grandmother lived with us and she did all the cooking at home. She was an amazing cook – still is at 88 – but she rarely made the dishes I liked – I know it might sound bitter and very “oh, my granny liked my brother more than me”, but it’s true: she would cook anything my brother wanted without hesitation, but never paid much attention to what I liked to eat – the perks of being the older child, I suppose.

One of the dishes she made very often was savory crepes filled with beef mince and covered with tomato sauce. See, I didn’t like beef as a kid, but I still had to eat the damn crepes. My brother, however, didn’t like tomato sauce but he didn’t have to eat the beef filled crepes – instead, he asked for his crepes to be filled with French fries (!), and granny wouldn’t say a word about it. And that is just one of the situations from those days.

Now, as a grown up, I cook what I want when I want it. My savory crepes are filled with ricotta and spinach and I don’t have to beg anyone else for it.

Ricotta and spinach manicotti
slightly adapted from the beautiful and delicious Homemade with Love: Simple Scratch Cooking from In Jennie's Kitchen

Crepes:
1 ½ cups (360ml) whole milk
1 large egg
½ teaspoon table salt
1 cup (140g) all purpose flour
canola oil, as needed to lightly grease the pan

Filling:
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 fat garlic clove, finely chopped
200g spinach, stems removed
salt and freshly ground black pepper
pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
450g (1 pound) ricotta cheese – I used homemade, recipe here, using 5 cups of milk
handful of fresh parsley leaves, chopped
¼ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

Assembling:
1 ½ cups tomato sauce, recipe here
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Make the crepes: place the milk, egg, salt and flour to the bowl of a blender. Blitz until smooth, then leave at room temperature for 1 hour (or at least 30 minutes).
Heat a nonstick 20cm (8in) skillet over medium-low heat. Brush pan lightly with oil, if needed. Pour in enough batter to coat bottom of skillet then swirl it around to cover the bottom of the skillet. Cook 30-45 seconds, flip and cook for 15 more seconds or until golden. Transfer to a flat dish then repeat with remaining batter.

Filling: heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, then the spinach, and cook until wilted. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Cool slightly, then chop and transfer to a colander and squeeze to remove the excess liquid. Transfer to a medium bowl, add the remaining filling ingredients and mix to incorporate. Check the seasoning.

Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F. Spread ½ cup of tomato sauce into the bottom of a 22x32cm (9x13in) casserole dish.
Lay each crepe on a flat surface and spoon an even amount of filling in a long strip down the edge of each one. Roll crepes closed, and place seam-side down into the casserole dish.
Evenly pour remaining sauce over filled crepes. Sprinkle with the parmesan cheese and bake 20 minutes, until golden and bubbly. Serve immediately.

Makes about 10 crepes – I got 9; the first two crepes I made got torn in the middle, so I got to serve 7 in total

The best gnocchi I have ever made + cookbooks that go beyond recipes

It’s not a secret how addicted I am to cookbooks and after I discovered the amazing “Eat Your Books” I no longer felt guilty for buying so many of them because I actually use my books all the time – I cook and bake from them regularly. Some cookbooks I love because of their recipes, while others won my heart over for reasons other than food. Some of them get me really emotional, while others are a lot of fun to read, like Andrew Carmellini’s “Urban Italian”: not only is the food great, but his writing is equally wonderful. How could I not love a cookbook that mentions “Law & Order” and that asks for garlic sliced a la “Goodfellas”? :) And on top of that it’s Carmellini’s the recipe for the best gnocchi I have ever made.

The best gnocchi I have ever made
from the delicious and beautiful Urban Italian: Simple Recipes and True Stories from a Life in Food

900g (2 pounds) Idaho potatoes, scrubbed (I used Asterix potatoes)
1 egg, beaten
1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour + extra flour for rolling the gnocchi
2 tablespoons finely grated parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon table salt
¼ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 200°C/400°F. Prick each potato several times with a fork and place on a baking sheet or in a roasting pan large enough to hold them all in a single layer. Bake until the potatoes are tender enough to be easily pierced with a small knife (about 1 hour).

Remove the potatoes from the oven and let them cool slightly—just enough so that you can handle them, not more. They should still be steaming when you cut them open (about 6 to 10 minutes). (If you let the potatoes get too cold, the proteins in the egg won’t bind with the potatoes, and your gnocchi will fall apart). Cut each potato in half lengthwise and scoop out the flesh with a spoon. Press the potato flesh through a ricer set over a large bowl. Using a wooden spoon, gently stir in the beaten egg, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, melted butter, salt, pepper, and 1 cup of flour. The mixture should be stirred only until the ingredients are combined: anything more will overwork the dough, and your gnocchi will come out tough. Work the mixture into a smooth ball; if the dough seems a little too moist for this, add a touch of flour (the moisture level in every potato is different, so every batch of gnocchi will be a bit different, too).

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Working quickly, divide the dough into 6 portions. Roll each portion into long logs, approximately 30cm (12in) long. Sprinkle the rolled-out logs with a tiny bit of flour to keep them from sticking to the surface. Cut each log into gnocchi-sized and place the pieces on a lightly floured baking sheet. Cover this with a cloth or plastic wrap until you’re ready to cook the gnocchi, so they don’t dry out.

Cooking the gnocchi: bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Add the gnocchi in batches. Let the gnocchi cook until they rise to the surface (about 1-2 minutes); wait one more minute and then, using a slotted spoon, remove the gnocchi – I place them directly into the hot tomato sauce so they don’t stick together and grab as much flavor from the sauce as possible.

Serves 4 – this recipe served 3 at my house