Italian Night

Holy cannoli, I am exhausted tonight.  I came home from a long Tuesday with 22 11-year olds who are totally feeling the full moon, and did not have too much planned.  However, I wanted to make stuffed shells, and someow an Italian night began taking shape in my mind. Maybe it's that I am currently reading the sequel to Under the Tuscan Sun, enjoying the recipes far more than the prose, or maybe it's that I have been trying to be better about making whole meals instead of just a main course.  All of a sudden, I was planning not only the stuffed shells, but some sort of side salad, bread, and pizza!

Italian Night Dinner!

First I made the bread, since it takes longer with the rising and all.  I made my old fall-back, herbed focaccia.  This is the third time I have made it since my blog began - the only recipe I have made three times! That definitely means something.  So easy, so quick, so delicious!  It went perfectly with the rest of the meal.  I still think that this is the best bread for anyone who is nervous about trying to make bread.  It's pretty hard to mess up, and with the fresh herbs (I used fresh rosemary and thyme, and dried oregano and basil), it just has amazing flavor.

Then came Mark to the rescue with the side salad.  He whipped together a gorgeous Caprese salad; he even bought special thick and gooey balsamic.

I tried not to be offended when Nick came in from Wal-Mart angry that they were out of breadmakers.  Breadmaker?!  Isn't that what I am?  He said he wanted it to make pizza dough, and so that was my next recipe.  I knew that it was basically just a yeast dough, so it was really quick to whip that up.  The pizza would fit in perfectly with my Italian night, too!

By far Nick's best pizza... not just because of my great dough!

Last came the stuffed shells.  I made spinach-and-ricotta-stuffed shells, and they were absolutely delicious.  Such good flavor from the ricotta, spinach, parmesan, and mozzarella!  These will definitely reappear soon.  I think they would be great with some chopped basil added in to the spinach, but we were out, after putting it in the Caprese and the pizza.

How pretty are these shells?

Now that I have been on my feet cooking for about 4 hours, I would say it's time to take a break!  But I certainly recommend everything I made tonight for your Italian night dinner! (Can you tell I taught a lesson on advertising recently?)

Recipes:
herbed focaccia
pizza dough
spinach-and-ricotta-stuffed shells