Sunday Dinner

Ahhhhhh..... Sunday. 

I love Sundays. I love the weekend in general, but I really love sundays. Its the day where we work a little, play a little, and rest a lot. 

And as most of you know... its when we gather all the pirates together & feed our faces. and our souls. 

This weeks recipe is brought to you by my girl Lidia Bastianich. I want to be Lidia when I grow up. 

This is one of my favorite things to make, mostly because I can make the crispelle {aka crepe} and the filling friday night, pop it in the fridge till sunday, & then whiz bang boom its done! 

 Enjoy!
  

This recipe feeds about 6 people... but I have 4 giant pirate men 3 of which are still eating me out of house & home, plus girlfriends, my mom, a teenage daughter, & a few stragglers... so I triple it. quadruple if i want a few leftovers.

Just a quick note... I am one lucky lady to have my sweet Italian chef husband who makes a red sauce {that will make you slap yo momma}by the boat loads! But any yummy red sauce will work even the kind in jar {... please no one tell my hubby I said that}

♥ Crespelle Ingredients:
1 cup flour 
1 cup milk
3 eggs 
1 tablespoon butter
extra virgin olive oil


Mix all ingredients together, lightly oil pan and pour about 3 tablespoons of mixture into a 6 inch non stick frying pan. Slowly swirl in pan and cook for about 45 seconds to 1 minute. Flip over and cook another 45 seconds to 1 minute. Remove and continue cooking until the rest of the batter is used. Can make a day ahead, refrigerate.

♥ Filling Ingredients:

2 pounds ricotta
2 eggs 
1/2 cup parmigiano cheese, grated 
1/2 pound mozzarella cheese,grated
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1/4 teaspoon pepper
marinara sauce

♥ Quick Marinara Sauce:

2 cans stewed tomato

1 can tomato paste

2 or 3 cloves garlic

1/2 c chopped onion

1/2 c white wine

Oregano

Basil

Parsley

Salt & Pepper

Olive Oil

in a food processor place Italian tomatoes, tomato paste, chopped parsley, minced garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper. Blend until smooth.

In a large skillet over medium heat saute the finely chopped onion in olive oil for 2 minutes. Add the blended tomato sauce and white wine.

Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Combine all ingredients, using a 11x7 pan or similar, coat bottom of pan with sauce. Fill each crespelle with the cheese mixture and roll up, place in pan add more sauce over manicotti and sprinkle with parmigiano cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Pro Tip: add some spinach, mushroom, bell pepper to the filling, the veg heads in your life will love you for it!

Or... add sausage, or chicken. you really cant go wrong. 

right click & save to print out for later!

♥ Tawny