Bacon Sour Cream Potato Manicotti With Gorgonzola Sauce Recipes

BACON, SOUR CREAM, POTATO MANICOTTI WITH GORGONZOLA SAUCE

Steps:

• Equipment needed: Potato Ricer, Pasta Rolling machine, Mixer, stand or hand, Baking dish, Pot for potato boiling, Pan for sauce.
• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Filling:Put whole potatoes in water and boil until tender.
• Drain and cut in half.
• Put in ricer one at a time and squeeze through into mixing bowl.
• Remove skin from ricer and finish the rest of the potatoes.
• Add 1/4 stick of butter, salt (1 teaspoon to start) and pepper (a few turns of the pepper mill to your liking), add reserved bacon and 1/4 cup sour cream.
• Mix until combined.
• Add baking powder and 1/2 of the milk and mix for another minute, adding more milk if needed to make the consistency to your liking.
• They should be creamy but not soupy.
• Pour into a baking dish and put in 350°F oven for about 20 minutes.
• The baking powder will give the potato a fluffy texture and baking it again will help incorporate all the flavors.
• Pasta: Using a stand mixer with a dough hook works best, but if you do not have one of these, make your pasta in a food processor or the old fashion way, by hand.
• I will use the stand mixer method for this recipe: place all ingredients for pasta in bowl and mix to incorporate, stopping several times to scrape down bowl. The hook will eventually make a ball out of the pasta.
• Pull the pasta dough out of the bowl and knead it until it is incorporated well.
• Cut into 4-6 pieces and wrap in plastic wrap tightly and put in the fridge to rest for about 20 minutes.
• Put a 4-quart pan on the stove with water.
• When water boils, add pinch of salt (adding salt after boil prevents salt damage to bottom of pan).
• Pull pasta from fridge and set the rollers on your pasta machine to widest setting and roll until you get nice pliable dough to work with, then start to flatten the pasta into sheets.
• Lay sheets on the work table and cut them into 4 inch square (or a 6x4 inch depending on the size you want).
• When water is boiling, put pasta in water cooking for about 4-5 minutes (fresh pasta cooks fast).
• If you need to do this in batches, use tongs to carefully pull out the pasta and set it in a colander, rinsing with cold water to stop the cooking process.
• Add a bit of olive oil after to prevent sticking.
• Putting together the manicotti:.
• Take pasta squares to the work station and lay them out to prepare for filling.
• Add enough potato to the pasta to make a nice roll with minimal overlap.
• Place manicotti in baking dish carefully, allowing space between them so they do not stick together.
• Put in the 350°F oven for about 10 minutes (about the time it takes to make the sauce).
• All things up to this point can be made ahead of time and frozen or put in the fridge ready to go.
• Sauce: Heat cream slowly and add Gorgonzola to melt.
• •Alternative: melt butter add flour and cook to a nut brown (roux) lower heat and add milk, whisking the roux to make it smooth.
• Allow the milk to come to temp slowly.
• Add cheese.
• Finish: remove manicotti from oven, should be nice and tender, not crispy.
• Place a tablespoon of sauce on plate and place manicotti on sauce.
• Add a ribbon of sauce over the top of the pasta along with chives and parm (optional).

BACON AND CHEESE MANICOTTI

Steps:

• For the manicotti: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 9- by 11-inch oval or rectangle baking dish with vegetable oil cooking spray.
• Bring a large pot of boiling salted water to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the oil and pasta. Cook until just tender, but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain and cover with plastic wrap to prevent the pasta from drying out.
• In a large nonstick skillet, cook the bacon until crisp and brown, about 7 minutes. Drain on paper towels and set aside to cool.
• In a large bowl, add the cooled bacon, the spinach, ricotta, Parmesan, 1/2 teaspoon salt, the pepper, nutmeg and egg. Stir until well combined. Using a small spoon, fill the manicotti tubes with the ricotta mixture.
• For the sauce: Bring the cream, milk, flour, salt, pepper and nutmeg to a simmer in a heavy, medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the mozzarella in batches, constantly whisking, until the sauce is thick and smooth. Reduce the heat to low and simmer 1 minute, whisking occasionally. Whisk in the tomato basil sauce.
• Pour half of the sauce on the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Arrange the manicotti in a single layer on the sauce. Pour the remaining sauce on top of the manicotti and top with the mozzarella. Drizzle with olive oil and cover the dish with foil. Bake until heated through and bubbling, 20 to 25 minutes.

BACON-SOUR CREAM BAKED POTATOES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 425°F.
• Prick potatoes in several places with fork. Bake 40 min. or until tender.
• Meanwhile, cook and stir bacon in small skillet on medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from skillet with slotted spoon; drain on paper towels.
• Combine sour cream, chives and Worcestershire sauce.
• Cut lengthwise slits in tops of potatoes; top with sour cream mixture and bacon.

POTATO SALAD WITH BACON AND GORGONZOLA

Steps:

• Cook potatoes in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender, about 5 minutes. Drain potatoes; return to same pot. Place over very low heat just until excess moisture evaporates, about 1 minute. Transfer hot potatoes to large bowl; Cool 10 minutes(minimum). Mix in 2 cups mayonnaise, low fat variety optional.
• Cook bacon in large heavy skillet over medium-high heat until brown and crisp. Transfer bacon to paper towels to drain. Cool bacon; crumble coarsely.
• Mix remaining 1/2 cup mayonnaise, cheese, green onions, parsley and half of bacon into potatoes. Season salad to taste with salt and peper (I prefer a mixture of white and cayenne pepper and seasoning salt) Sprinkle with remaining bacon. (Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at cool room temperature.).

BACON & GORGONZOLA POTATO SALAD

Steps:

• Place potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 10-15 minutes or until tender. Drain and cool., Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the mayonnaise, sour cream, onions, celery, 1 tablespoon chives, salt, pepper and sugar. Stir in cheese and 1/2 cup bacon bits. Fold in tomatoes and potatoes. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Just before serving, sprinkle with remaining chives and bacon.

GORGONZOLA CREAM SAUCE

Steps:

• Place a heavy skillet over medium heat. Pour cream into skillet, bring to a simmer, and cook cream until it reduces by half, about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper.
• Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Pour dried ravioli into boiling water and cook, stirring occasionally, until pasta is tender, 16 to 18 minutes. Drain pasta, reserving a cup of pasta water.
• Gently fold cooked ravioli into cream sauce and turn heat to low. Mix in Gorgonzola cheese, stirring gently until melted. If sauce is too thick, thin it with a little pasta cooking water.
• Stir in 2 tablespoons parsley and Parmesan cheese. Transfer to a serving bowl and sprinkle with diced apple, walnuts, and 1 teaspoon parsley.

BAKED MANICOTTI (BOLOGNESE RAGU)

Steps:

• I suggest making the filling a few hours ahead of time to allow the flavors of cheese, garlic and herbs to fully meld.
• Beat the eggs and combine them with the Ricotta.
• Fold in the grated cheese, basil, parsley and Prosciutto until all is well combined.
• Cover with plastic wrap and keep in fridge until ready to use.
• Using lasagna noodle (if packaged cook to al dente) add enough stuffing on one end and roll up jelly roll style.
• Lay into baking pan that has been greased or coated with cooking spray.
• I use a 9x14" pan which perfectly holds 12 manicotti: 8 down the center and two on each side.
• Spoon the Ragu over the pasta until completely covered.
• Bake in the oven, uncovered, for 35 minutes.
• Remove and top with the mozzarella.
• Return to the over for an additional 10 minutes to allow the cheese to completely melt.
• Let stand for about 5 minutes.
• Serve with additional sauce on the side.
• For the Bolognese Ragu (Italian Meat Sauce) You want to use a heavy pot or sauté pan for this, something that holds the heat well.
• This will give you better control when you need to have the sauce just barely simmering.
• Melt the butter in the sauté pan over medium heat.
• Add the next 4 ingredients and sauté until the veggies are softened, about 5 minutes.
• Add the ground beef and pork.
• Cook the meat while using the edge of the spoon to break up the meat into small pieces.
• Just before the meat begins to brown add the milk.
• Return the mixture to a slow boil and allow to reduce until the milk has mostly evaporated.
• About 20 to 30 minutes.
• Add the wine, return to a boil and allow the sauce to reduce until the wine is mostly evaporated, another 20 to 30 minutes.
• While the sauce is reducing drain and chop the tomatoes, reserving the juice.
• When the wine has mostly evaporated add the tomatoes, along with the reserved juice, and the red pepper.
• Now you want to reduce the flame until the sauce is barely at a simmer- only a bubble or two at a time breaking the surface.
• Maintain this simmer, stirring every 30 minutes or so, until the liquid is mostly evaporated.
• This should take about 3 to 4 hours.
• Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
• The long, slow simmering gives the meat a melt-in-your mouth quality.
• Don't be daunted by the cooking time, as it only requires you be around to give it a stir from time-to-time.

ROASTED POTATOES WITH SOUR CREAM AND BACON

Steps:

• Cook bacon in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, turning over occasionally, until browned and crisp, 6 to 8 minutes.
• Transfer bacon to paper towels to drain, then carefully transfer drippings from skillet to a small heatproof bowl and stir in white parts of scallions, salt, and pepper.
• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 450°F.
• Tear off 6 (1-foot-long) sheets of heavy-duty foil.
• Make deep crosswise cuts in potatoes 1/4 inch apart, leaving bottom 1/4 inch intact (do not cut all the way through).
• Place each potato on a sheet of foil and drizzle each with 1 tablespoon bacon-dripping mixture, separating slices to allow some to drip into cuts.
• Gather up foil around potatoes, crimping foil to tightly enclose.
• Roast potatoes until tender, 45 to 50 minutes.
• Just before serving, stir together sour cream and scallion greens and crumble bacon over mixture.
• Carefully open foil packets and transfer packets to a platter.
• Serve potatoes with sour-cream topping.