Basil Manicotti

Well, it was bound to happen.  A person can only try so many new recipes before one doesn't really come out tasting very well.  My attempt at creating a new manicotti recipe was not a success.  I had spent some time looking for a new recipe, but I either found recipes that were like what I already made (much more traditional manicotti) or recipes that looked amazingly yummy but horrible point-wise.  I don't really need anymore recipes that taste super yummy that aren't so good for me.

I had pretty much abandoned the idea of a new recipe by the time I was washing my hands to start cooking dinner.  As I was rinsing, I looked up at my poor basil plant.  I say "poor basil plant" because while it has only been in my possession for a VERY short time (a month tops) it is dying one stalk at a time.  It has fallen victim like so many plants before it....it belongs to me.  Seriously, how hard is it to keep a freakin' plant alive? If you are me, fairly hard.  Whatever the reason, the fact remains the plant is dying and I am trying to use the leaves that are there before it is too late.  SO...as I was rinsing my hands, I thought "Why not mix a bunch of basil in the cheese mixture?" 

It seemed like a perfectly good idea at the time.  Manicotti is Italian, basil is used a bunch in Italian cooking.  Spinach is often mixed with the cheese mixture for manicotti, why not basil? They are both green, right? Not so much apparently...

To my credit, the dishes looked beautiful when I took them out of the oven.  The cheese was melted and starting to brown, the tomato sauce was bubbling and oozing over the side.  I really should have taken a picture...they were beautiful.

But then we ate them, or at least tried to.  I finished one of the two of my tubes, Joe didn't even eat that much.  Why didn't we like it?  It was WAY too sweet.  Ricotta cheese already leans to the sweeter side when it comes to cheese but adding basil to it made it over the top.  What I didn't know before that I know now is that basil, in addition to adding flavor, adds sweetness to your dish.  A good thing I suppose when you are trying to cut the acidity of tomatoes...not a good thing when trying to make a savory manicotti.

Sadly, they ended up in the garbage disposal.  Perhaps the lesson here is not to mess with something good.  I guess my old standby, plain cheese manicotti is going to be the standard around here.  I was hoping it would turn out so that I could make a bunch to put in the freezer and give the rest of my basil leaves a purpose in their short life but it wasn't meant to be.  I think I am going to end up with a bunch of pesto in my freezer instead.