By Peter Francis Battaglia

Here is my argument to all those people — take a good look at yourselves, you know who you are — who think they need to spend hours in the kitchen for a decent home-cooked meal.  You couldn’t be further from the truth.

Don’t be scared. Go for take-out or fast food when you feel like it; but really, you could make something on the fly and be shocked at how easy it is.

Pasta comes in all its shapes, sizes, varieties and is probably my most favorite food to cook and eat.  My grandfather, Innocenzo Scaramuzzi, who I take after in many ways, probably ate it everyday. Innocenzo, a New York city Italian immigrant from Grassano, Provincia di Matera, Basilicata, Italy (now that’s a mouthful), was a genius in the kitchen.  I would watch him and my grandmother cook for hours.  Couldn’t get enough of it.  And, everything they cooked was awesome, except maybe some of the more hard core old world dishes which included items that would make a voracious carnivore go ultra vegan.

This brings me to one of the simplest of all Italian dishes ever: pasta with garlic and oil, or Pasta con Aglio e Olio. Basically, it’s pasta, cooked al dente, drained and then sauteed in a big pan with three cloves of sliced garlic and good (I mean good) olive oil. Season with hot pepper flakes or black pepper (never both) and some salt.  After several trips to Italy I learned a pasta-serving style I prefer and I’m going to pass it on. Pasta should never be swimming in a sauce, especially one that’s oil-based.  How many times have you had pasta with garlic and oil and the macaroni hydroplanes on the plate because there is too much oil?

The pasta should have a nice coating of oil, but not an inch of oil in the dish.  In fact, in Italy from Venice to Palermo the oil based sauces almost appeared dry; but they were not and they were full of flavor.  For one-half pound of cooked angel hair use less than 1/8  an inch of olive oil in the bottom of the pan.  Heat the oil and add the garlic.  Don’t let it get to that brown stage. If it does you’ve gone too far. About one minute in the sizzling pan will allow the garlic to release its heady perfume into the oil.

Add the drained pasta, carefully and incorporate the oil and pasta. Add salt and pepper and then taste it. If it’s too dry for your liking add a little of the pasta water (I said “a little).

Sprinkle some grated parmigiano or pecorino, up to you, and you are done.  Not rocket science or a 12-hour ordeal.  Serve with a green vegetable or salad.  Garnish the pasta with chopped parsley — or not, again, not a deal breaker here.

Tonight I opened a can of no salt organic green beans, and drained it. I sauteed one minced shallot, then added that to the beans. A little kosher salt, one teaspoon of fig balsamic and I let that cook for five minutes. Then I drizzled extra virgin olive oil, infused with Meyer lemon (a Christmas gift). Gave it a quick stir and added a little fresh orange juice. Dash of black pepper and it as done.
The bright sour sweet and citrus flavors combined with the other ingredients perked up that dreary can of green beans, and brought a little sunshine into our kitchen on a dark, cold night.  It played off nicely with the Agli’Ugli (southern Italian dialect, I’m channeling the grandparents again).

So bundle up, it’s a cold one here at the Jersey Shore (no Snooki or The Situation in sight) and stop whining that you can’t cook a quick meal during the week.  It’s good for you.

And by the way, you can add capers, anchovies, small shrimp, cherry tomatoes — whatever you love — into the oil and garlic.

Read more of Peter’s work at: www.blog.afoodobsession.com/2009/12/29/italian-classic.aspx.

Making Manicotti with Pancetta Tomato Sauce

By Peter Francis Battaglia

Peter Francis Battaglia's manicotti.

This is my all-time favorite, then good cheese ravioli, lasagne, and  cavatelli.  Truly, there are no pastas I don’t like; but manicotti has a special place in my heart. Growing up, when these were being made my anticipation went through the roof.  Back then manicotti were always reserved for a special holiday or celebration.

I had the craving on a recent Saturday night; but we had already eaten.  So, around 10 p.m. I went to the kitchen, and started making them for Sunday dinner.  Crazy?  Maybe.

It’s worth the effort. Remember, as with all good things, have patience. It’s work, not really hard work. Let’s face it you’re not installing new kitchen cabinets here. But this kind of work will reward everyone with a spectacular feast – Southern Italian style.

Make the sauce first.  You can make your favorite or usual sauce, but for the love of all that is good in the world, don’t use jarred sauce. You can make it yourself.

I opened the fridge and took a nice piece of Pancetta. Pancetta is an Italian form of bacon, cured, but not smoked.  You cannot use smoked bacon in a recipe that calls for pancetta.  The flavor is not the same and will alter the end result.

If Pancetta is unavailable, don’t panic.  Every supermarket is carrying it now, but, if you happen to live in an area where it is unavailable, use salt pork.  Dice about 1 cup of the pancetta and sauté in a large pot with some fruity olive oil. Let it sizzle for about 8 minutes. Add 1 large or 2 small onions, finely diced. Let this simmer in the oil for about 20 minutes so that the onions sweeten and meld with the pancetta flavor. This is a crucial step in creating this particular sauce. If you are using salt pork – after the onions have started cooking for about 5 minutes — add a splash of wine and a good grinding of black pepper. This will make the salt port take on the flavors of pancetta. It works.

Now add two cans of San Marzano good tomatoes that you have crushed with your hands. Add a couple of torn basil leaves, taste for seasoning, and let this cook for at least 1 hour. You will be happy with the concentrated flavor the onions and pancetta give the sauce.

Saute for five minutes to meld flavors.

See that bright, sunny red color? It comes from San Marzano tomatoes and not overcooking the sauce.

While the sauce is cooking you make the manicotti.  The Battaglia-Scaramuzzi family recipe (that would be my Mom’s way of making them) is crepe-style.  I find the manicotti made with macaroni or pasta dough – whether it be fresh or dried – very foreign.  I think cannelloni which are quite similar, are made with a fresh pasta dough.  I also don’t like a well-known “Italian” franchise restaurant’s mentality of taking a dish and embellishing it with extraneous ingredients.

Manicotti should be stuffed with a mixture of ricotta, mozzarella, pecorino romano, black pepper, and fresh parsley, with an egg to help bind the filling.  Serve it all with a tasty sauce – tomato please, never Vodka sauce. Garnished with shrimp? No. Why the tirade?  This latest restaurant’s disaster pairs a ricotta stuffed manicotti with a cream (OMG) sauce and shrimp. What?  I’m just sayin …

Making the Crepes

OK, let’s start making the crepes. Sift 1 1/2 cups flour into a bowl. Add 3 well-beaten eggs, 1 teaspoon olive oil, pinch of salt, 2 cups of milk. Somehow this always changes, so be sure it has the consistency of a loose pancake batter, which hovers between thin and not so thin.

The crepe batter should have this consistency.

Rub a non-stick small omelette pan with olive oil. Place it over medium heat for 5 minutes.  Now ladle a thin layer of the crepe batter into the pan, smoothing it out with the bottom of the ladle.  It should be thin, but not transparent. Cook for 2 minutes on each side and continue making the crepes until the batter is used. This should yield about 20 crepes. Stack them on a place and move to one side. Let cool for about 1/2 hour.

Cooking the crepes.

Manicotti Filling

In a large bowl add one-half pound small diced mozzarella, 2 teaspoons freshly minced flat-leaf parsley, 1 beaten egg, 1 cup pecorino romano, lots of fresh ground black pepper, One-and-one-half pounds good ricotta. Polly-O is a good supermarket brand, but, if possible get fresh ricotta from an Italian Store, or Salumeria. It makes for a heavenly manicotti. Fresh ricotta just can’t be beat.

Manicotti filling.

Preparing the Manicotti

Add some sauce to the bottom of a baking pan.  Take a crepe and put abut 3 tablespoons of the filling down the center. Roll it up and place into pan. Do not stack them on top of each other. One layer only.

Put the filling across the crepe and roll.

Place manicotti in a single layer.

Just a suggestion (not really), use Polly-O whole milk mozzarella. Fresh has too much liquid and it makes the filling watery. Top the finished tray with sauce and add some grated pecorino.

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Cover the tray with foil and bake for 1 hour.  Let the manicotti sit for a good 5-10 minutes before serving.  The foil prevents the heat from drying the manicotti and scorching the top.  Too much cooking and the tomato gets bitter. When serving, figure at least 2 manicotti per person, so make enough. This is an easy recipe to double.

I'll have three please ...

Those of you who want to wow your family and friends with a homemade pasta dish, this is just the one to try.  You can make the shells and sauce a day or two before serving.  You can even roll and stuff them, but you must cook them less than 24 hours after you they are stuffed. Just tightly cover and refrigerate. Serve with a meat ball or sausage – or not.  Just one makes a great starter to an Italian meal, or use it as the entrée.

Cannelloni I like with a veal and spinach stuffing, asiago cheese, onion, garlic, carrot, celery. Oops, that’s another recipe.  Sorry. Once I get started, I just want to keep going. Drop me a comment if you try this!

To see more of Peter’s recipes visit his blog at: www.blog.afoodobsession.com. Peter can be reached at: Peter@globalfoodie.com.