Le Fantóme de l' Opéra likes his italano type cooking also! Besides it is RED and that's his favorite color of the victims under the Opéra House in Paris. First we are going to start out with the basics: the red Italian sauce which makes all the rest le piece de resistance! Fantóme Italian Marinara Sauce !! 1 lb. hot and spicy Italian sausage Olive oil 1 TB basil 1 TB oregano 4 garlic cloves, chopped or crushed up 1 onion, diced 2 large cans tomatoe puree 1 large can crushed tomatoes or tomatoes 1 large can tomatoe paste 1 oz. red wine 1 tsp. crushed red pepper 1 beef bouillon cube 1 TB or more of the secret (SUGAR) Fry up the sausage in the oil. Take the wrapper off the sausage first though. Add all the rest of the ingredients except the red wine, tomatoe paste and sugar after the meat is browned and cook slowly as long as you like. I recommend at least 3 hours! Then add in the last hour the red wine and the tomatoe paste to the pot. The LAST ten minutes add the sugar to the recipe. It smooths it all out! You can double or triple this for the crockpot. Enjoy!
Stuffed Manicotti Now that your have the sauce; the pasta for a main dish meal! 1 lb Italian sausage 1 lb manicotti 1 pkg spinach, chopped and thawed and squezzed dry 1/2 c Italian bread crumbs 1 qt red sauce (above) 4 oz or more shredded mozzarella cheese 1 egg 1 garlic clove, chopped Parboil manicotti till barely limp usually about 5-7 minutes. Fry up sausage in olive oil and without the nasty ole casing on it. Put it and the bread crumbs, the egg, spinach, 1 oz cheese, garlic clove and a bit of the red sauce in your food processor and zap it till smooth. Fill the manicotti with it. May need to use a cookie press if you have one, otherwise a spoon will do OK. Layer a small about of red sauce in the cassarole dish and place in the stuffed manicotti on top. Then add the rest of the marinara sauce. Cook for 30-40 minutes in a medium oven (350) covered with foil. Last few minutes take the foil off and top with rest of cheese and melt. Enjoy makes about 10 manicotti.
Fantóme's Lasagne How 'bout some wonderful lasagna to take to that pot=luck at the social event? Try this out. Methinks you will like it. 1 qt thick red sauce (see above) 1 egg 1 carton Ricotta cheese 1 pkg. chopped spinach 1 lb. mozarella, shredded pkg.lasagne noodles. parmesan cheese Cook lasagne noodles till only partly cooked. Layer a 9x13 inch pan and place first a layer of sauce (so it won't stick) at the bottom; then the noodles and then a mixture of the cheese and spinach and 1/2 mozarella and the egg that has been processed with the ole food processor. Then a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. Repeat layers until noodles are used up. Then put heavy parmesan on top and then the rest of the meat sauce and cook for 30 minutes covered at 350. Turn to 400 and add whatever mozarella cheese is left and let it brown. Eat it.....Try it you will like it. I will put in a link to Alka-Seltzer later....