‘The herbs are the first thing that hits you’

Up until about 10 days ago, gentle readers, manicotti was a mystery to me.

I’d never worked with pasta in that form, never even noticed it in a store.

But a photo of “Spinach Stuffed Manicotti” in my vintage (1992) cookbook “The Treasury of Creative Cooking” looked so appealing.

And, when I spotted some of the ridged, hollow tubes at Malacari’s Produce & Deli, my first thought was, “Aha! Now I can try that recipe.”

Next thing you know, I was gently spooning filling into the cooked pasta tubes for a weekend supper at home.

The cookbook credited the recipe to one Chef Toni Piccinini from San Francisco, described as a semi-finalist in a Use Your Noodle contest sponsored by the National Pasta Association.

I followed Chef Toni’s directions fairly faithfully, which meant the only ingredients in the stuffing were spinach, ricotta, egg and a slice of whole wheat bread, torn into coarse crumbs.

As Mark and I tasted the dish, we kept telling each other we thought it needed something. Basically, we wanted it, especially the filling, to be less bland. Maybe that’s because we’re almost rabid about our enthusiasm for garlic.

So on Wednesday I made another batch for the newsroom taste testers.

For this batch, I doubled the amount of tomatoes, sauteed garlic and other herbs so we’d have twice as much sauce under and on top of the manicotti.

I also sauteed a little extra garlic along with a bit of the other herbs and stirred that into the filling mix along with the spinach and ricotta.

Basically — with apologies to Chef Toni — I took a recipe that called for 1 teaspoon of chopped garlic and used 3 teaspoons. Or more. I also used more rosemary, oregano, sage and thyme — which seemed to produce the desired results.

“I would never call this bland,” said Times Leader taste tester and page designer Lyndsay Bartos, who added, “It’s really fresh and comforting. And for summer, it doesn’t feel heavy.”

“The herbs are the first thing that hits you, in a good way,” news editor Roger DuPuis said. “It’s very savory; the oregano and thyme were the first things I tasted. And I really like the consistency of the spinach filling.”

“I really like the sage,” obit clerk Ashley Bringmann said, agreeing with Lyndsay that the overall dish felt light as opposed to weighed down.

I told the taste testers the recipe seemed to be designed to be light, because it called for 2 egg whites instead of a whole egg, only a scant bit of oil, and a slice of whole wheat bread rather than white.

Truth be told, I used 1 whole egg because I didn’t want to risk having 2 yolks go to waste, and I may have used slightly more olive oil than the recipe mentioned. But, you know me and whole wheat. Of course that’s the kind of bread I used.

“I like it,” reporter Kevin Carroll said, noting he’d been “a little bit skeptical about it at first because of the spinach.”

Kevin’s grandmother used to make manicotti stuffed with meat, and he prefers that to spinach filling. But, is he an herb fan?

“I wouldn’t have thought so,” he said, “but after this I guess I am.”

Outside of the newsroom, my mom tasted both versions and said she liked them both the same. Mark and I agreed we preferred the second version with garlic and herbs in the filling as well as in the sauce.

“This is much better,” Mark said.

Here is the original recipe, which makes 4 servings.

Spinach Stuffed Manicotti

1 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves, crushed

1 teaspoon dried sage leaves, crushed

1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves, crushed.

1 teaspooon dried thyme leaves, crushed

1 teaspoon chopped garlic

1 and 1/2 cups canned or fresh tomatoes, chopped

1 package (10 ounces) frozen spinach, cooked, drained and squeezed dry

4 ounces ricotta cheese

1 slice whole wheat bread, torn into coarse crumbs

2 egg whites, lightly beaten

8 uncooked manicotti shells, cooked, rinsed and drained

Yellow pepper rings (optional)

Sage sprig (optional)

Cook and stir rosemary, sage, oregano, thyme and garlic in oil in small saucepan over medium heat about 1 minute. Do not let herbs turn brown. Add tomatoes; reduce heat to low Simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Combine spinach, cheese and bread crumbs in medium bowl. Fold in egg whites. Stuff manicotti with spinach mixture. Place 1/3 of the tomato mixture on bottom of 13 x 9-inch pan. Arrange manicotti in pan. Cover with foil. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Garnish with yellow pepper rings and sage sprig.