Bracciole and Mannicotti

My daughter Meagan needs more recipes for Christmas, so again, you get to benefit. These are recipes passed down from at least her Great Grandmotheron her father's side, possibly older than that. (Caveat: I am not Italian at all. I married into it.) Her Great Grandmother was born in Sicily and emigrated to America. So they must be authentic, right? Well, maybe. What we have noticed is that theItalian family recipes seem to have morphed a bit to fit the poverty in which the family found itself in America as well as the lack of real Italian ingredients. Most of the recipes include lots of eggs even where seemingly unnecessary, probably to get the protein content of the food up and make use of a cheap source of protein. Breadcrumbs make lots of appearances, too. The surprising thing to me is that most of the family recipes are very bland considering that they supposedly originate from Sicily. These recipes were traditionally served on Christmas, but I can't abide Italian on Christmas, I am strictly a big-hunk-of-juicy-prime-rib sort of girl. We instead sometimes make them on Christmas Eve, which is what Meg is going to do and we're going to her house for Christmas Eve. Yay!!! Now I only have to cook two big meals for Christmas instead of three!!!

Bracciole

Butterflied top sirloin
Layer:
Breadcrumbs
Parmesan Cheese
Pepper
Parsley
thinly sliced, sauteed onions
sauteed meatball mixture
sauteed diced mushrooms
hard boiled eggs, sliced thin
roll and tie and saute the bracciole in olive oil until brown, add to red sauce and cook for two or three hours.

Manicotti

Beat 8 eggs well and add 2 cups of water and 2 cups of flour and 2 tsp salt. Cook on an ungreased griddle over low heat. Pour like small pancakes and cook on one side until rubbery.

Filling

1 1/2 lbs ricotta (Get the good kind from the deli section.)
2 egg yolks
1/4 c parmesan
salt and pepper
minced parsley, dash of sugar and cinnamon

Put 1 T filling in the center and spread it over the crepe. Roll seam side down aand layer in a baking pan with sauce. Bake 25 minutes at 350.

Traditional Italian Manicotti are crepes, not those huge pasta tubes you get at the grocery. They are very delicate and subtle, but super yummy! Although one Christmas eve when my son Ben was four (and a VERY picky eater) we made him try these and he immediately threw them right back up. We never forced him to try anything ever again. Although, that is my prefered method for raising un-picky eaters. Which the rest of my kids are not. Because I am (nearly) perfect.