Brad Leone’s Manicotti with Homemade Whole Milk Ricotta

Oh, that was good.

Good dismount, nailed it.

Hey guys, I'm Brad Leone.

Today, we're gonna be making a family recipe of manicotti.

When I think of Christmas, I think of my dad,

and I think of this recipe.

You know, you make the little crepe.

Real tender kind of noodle that's covered with sauce

and stuffed with ricotta cheese,

which we're gonna make today using fresh whole milk.

I'm just gonna add six eggs to the mixer.

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[stand mixer whirring]

We're done mixing it and the egg transformed.

It got to this real pale, airy, light yellow color.

I'm gonna add a little bit of salt, half a teaspoon.

And one and a quarter cups of all-purpose flour.

We're gonna add this in gradually

while we whisk it on low.

You wanna really make sure you get out any clumps.

You want this to be as silky and as fine as possible.

Then add a cup and a half of just room temp water,

and we're gonna let that mix for just a minute.

So the batter's pretty much done now,

as far as the mixing part goes.

It is a loose batter but it will

thicken a bit when we rest it.

We're gonna make a whole milk ricotta.

I'm gonna use whole milk and a little cream.

It reminds me, growing up, this was always a dish

that my dad made during Christmas.

He would always make his own ricotta cheese.

I would ask him, Dad, how come you don't

just go buy some ricotta cheese?

And he goes, It's a simple dish.

Put a little bit of care and thought and effort

into every little step,

and it just comes out that much better.

A, it's fun.

It's super easy.

And it makes a better product.

Mix these together, heat those up to 200 degrees.

I'm gonna add some salt and then some vinegar.

I like the get the whole milk going in a swirl,

so it'll help mix it,

and then I just slowly pour in the vinegar.

You can already see the milk breaks, curdling.

Let it sit for about 15 minutes,

and we'll have all of our whey on the bottom,

and on the top is that beautiful cheese curd.

Brings back real nice memories of every Christmas

when I would make this with my dad.

One of the most exciting parts

was the breaking of the whole milk.

Where all of a sudden,

you're gathered around and you're heating it up,

and as soon as you add the acid to it, it just breaks.

All of a sudden this beautiful whole milk ricotta

just transforms and appears on the top.

It was always like magic as a kid.

I made it one time already now with my one son.

He got it, and he liked eating it,

but it's only going to get better. [laughs]

Looking forward to his year.

You're gonna scoop it off

and try to keep it as intact as possible,

and start to pass it through the cheesecloth.

We let that hang for about 15 minutes.

Just to let some of the moisture out.

When you bake this you don't want it to be super,

super dry but you don't want it to be falling apart wet.

You don't want it to be a soup sandwich.

I just have some low moisture mozzarella cheese,

little bit of Parmesan.

I'm gonna mix that together before I add the rest.

Then just a couple of beaten eggs.

You just want to make sure everything's mixed,

'cause when this bakes it's all gonna melt together

and become a really awesome filling.

I make this with my family and I got some kids now,

so any way I can just fold in a little vegetables,

little greens, while they think they're just eating pasta.

It's a win-win.

I just like to add a bit of fresh-cracked pepper, too.

My dad would have, you know,

it'd be the kitchen table and the counter

'cause he was making it for a ton of people.

Shower towels down and my mom would be freaking out,

and he's over there just banging out.

We're making 100 crepes.

Alright, guess we'll add that in.

You want it to be just as even as possible.

You want to swirl it because it's cookin' on contact.

Yeah, nice, little noodle crepe.

It's a beautiful thing.

I'd always get in trouble for eating them.

My dad would be making them one at a time,

and I'm a little guy, I come cruising along.

Little hot noodle, grab a little hot noodle, hit the road.

Flip.

That was the best one yet.

Look at that, beautiful texture.

Just gotta make about 45 more.

Now we have enough crepes.

Take a little bit of sauce.

You can make your own little marinara sauce or tomato sauce.

Just spread it out.

Now, what we're gonna do is take two tablespoons

of our mixture, and just fill it in.

It's as simple as just rolling it up.

Place the folded end down, right in the baking dish.

Keep 'em real close, but not touching.

Now I have my sheet tray, it's all full.

We're just gonna put a little sauce over top.

Cover it with foil, put it in the oven,

350 degrees Fahrenheit, for about 45 minutes.

It's gonna come out perfect.

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I like to take a bit of grated Parmesan.

Do a little drizzle of a good extra virgin olive oil.

Last but not least, little black pepper.

Then it's party time, it's Christmas eve.

Yeah, I could eat about 25 of those.

This was always the dish with my family,

it was Christmas eve, and this was

the first thing that we would eat.

We're having it with your friends and family,

that's kind of what it's all about.

Eating it is almost a by-product of it.

My fondest memory, there was always a couple extra

and eating those first ones and tasting that homemade

whole milk ricotta cheese that we had, and the crepe,

and how tender it all gets wrapped together,

it really is a special moment.

I'm just super excited to let my kids learn this,

and be able to teach this,

and enjoy this for the rest of their lives.

Thanks guys, check out the recipe.

Hope you enjoy it, hope you can pass this on,

start your own tradition.

Have a good time doing it.

So we're done?

Yep. You guys should eat some.

It's fantastic.

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