mal-whatti?

Malfatti. Add it to the list of things my husband introduced me to.

It sounds bad. Anyone who has studied a Romance language knows that "mal-" is a dangerous suffix. But not in this case. Malfatti is delicious. It's ricotta, spinach, and bread crumb logs covered with a great Italian sausage-based red sauce, and it's absolutely delicious.

It's not particularly healthy - I had really a hard time getting over that once I calculated it all out - but it's good as a treat every once in a while. It also freezes and reheats really, really well. It's great to freeze in advance of a life issue (my mother-in-law made and froze some in preparation for her knee surgery next month), or to bring to a grieving family or someone who just had a baby. Just bag and freeze the sauce separately from the "logs," and you're good to go. They can reheat and combine as they wish.

Of course, you can make it on a regular Wednesday, too, like we did. It smells delicious while cooking, and it's about as warm and homey and comforting as you can get. Make it, and you won't regret it.

xoxo,
E & B

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malfatti

ingredients:
for the malfatti pieces:
2 10-ounce boxes frozen chopped spinach, heated and drained VERY WELL (needs to be as dry as possible)
1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
1 cup dry bread crumbs (plain)
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (we didn't have any, so we left this out)
1 clove garlic, minced (we used two cloves)
 
for the sauce:
1 pound sweet Italian sausage (or you can use half-sweet and half-hot like we did)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 bouillon cube
1 cup boiling water
2 8-ounce cans of tomato sauce (near the tomato paste, but not tomato paste)
1/2 cup red wine (uh, we may have added a splash or two more)
1/2 teaspoon oregano

directions:
for the malfatti pieces:
Press spinach until dry as possible.
Put spinach in a bowl and combine with rest of ingredients. Mix well by hand.
Form "fingers," or small log-shaped pieces, with the mixture.
Spray a baking dish with Pam, and place pieces on it.
Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes or until heated through
 
for the sauce:
Remove sausage from casings (um, B definitely did this), and crumble into skillet.
Add onion and brown.
Dissolve bouillon cube into boiling water.
Add to sausage, along with rest of ingredients.
Let summer at least 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
 
To serve, simply pour the desired amount of sauce over the desired amount of logs.
 
nutrition:
It's not great, y'all. We made 12 logs, and with one log, and presumably 1/12 of the sauce over it, it was 249 calories. That usually satisfies me, but B definitely needs more than that. How bad it is depends on how much you eat.