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Sweet Potato Manicotti

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Prep 60 min
Total 1 hr 30 min
Servings 12

A delicate and lighter version of the Italian classic. MORE + LESS -

The Food in My Beard

October 31, 2014

Ingredients

PASTA

3: cups flour

4: eggs

1/4: cup olive oil

: Salt to taste

SAUCE

1: onion

3: cloves garlic

: Olive oil

: Salt, pepper, red pepper flakes to taste

1: (28 ounce) can Muir Glen™ crushed tomatoes with basil

: Oregano

FILLING

3: sweet potatoes

1: bunch basil, stems removed

2: cups ricotta

2: cups grated mozzarella plus more for topping

2: eggs

: Salt to taste

Steps

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1

Make the Pasta: Put the flour into a bowl, followed by the eggs, olive oil, and salt. Use a fork to whisk the eggs with the oil and salt, slowly incorporating the flour. When it comes together and a good amount of the flour is mixed with the eggs, start using your hands and bring the dough together, only incorporating as much flour as the dough seems to need and want. Once you have a uniform dough and most of the flour is in the dough, wrap it in plastic and let it rest for 15 minutes.
2

Make the sauce: Cut the onion and dice the garlic. Put a decent couple glugs of olive oil into a sauce pan and simmer the onions for about 10 minutes. Add in the garlic, salt, pepper, and chili flake and cook another 2 minutes. Add in the can of tomatoes and oregano and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat.
3

Make the Filling: Bake the sweet potatoes for about an hour until tender. Remove from the skin and mash into a bowl. Chop up the basil finely. Add all the ingredients to the sweet potatoes and mix well.
4

Bring it all together: Roll out your pasta dough to the second thinnest setting on your pasta maker. Cut the dough into large squares that will fit nicely into the baking dish you are using. Dip the squares 2 by 2 into boiling water for about 2 minutes and remove. Lay the cooked noodle onto a plate or cutting board and add a nice scoop of filling. Roll the pasta around the filling and place seam side down into a baking dish that already has some of the sauce on the bottom. Repeat until you have made about 12 of the manicotti and used all the filling.
5

Bake it: Top with the remaining sauce and a little mozzarella, and pop this into the oven at 350 for a half hour. Give it a little extra broiling if it needs more browning on top.

Nutrition Information

No nutrition information available for this recipe

More About This Recipe

Brighten up your dinner table with this clever and unexpected twist on traditional manicotti.

The other day for lunch, I was trying to decide what leftovers I should eat. In the fridge I had a cooked sweet potato, a little bit of spaghetti with tomato sauce, and a tub of ricotta. Naturally, I heated up the sweet potato, cut it in half, poured on the spaghetti, and topped it with a dollop of ricotta. I LOVED IT!

I immediately decided that pasta, tomato, ricotta, and sweet potato needed to be combined in a dish in a much more refined way. I was drawn to the idea of manicotti over ravioli because it has always been a favorite of mine – and because sweet potato ravioli are more common and I wanted this to be unique.

This dish came out delicious, filling, and cheesy for a cold winter night, but also felt light enough that it wasn't too far out of my New Year's diet. The sweet potato allowed me to use a lot less cheese but still end up with a creamy decadent filling.

A simple sauce with canned tomato, onion, and garlic.

Easy filling, just mix it all up.

Creamy and flavorful.

Roll out your pasta and cut into large squares.

Boil them for about a minute.

Then lay on a plate and top with the filling. Roll it up and put it into a baking dish.

That simple tomato sauce.

Making homemade pasta can seem like a lot of work, but in a dish like this it's totally worth it.

These are unbelievably good! And they're super cheap to make, with simple ingredients.

Dan Whalen has manicotti on his birthday every year. He has been blogging for over 5 years at The Food in My Beard. Check Dan's Tablespoon profile often to try his recipes with creative international spins!