The Daring Cooks June 2012: Cannelloni!

Manu from Manu's Menu was our Daring Cooks lovely June hostess and has challenged us to make traditional Italian cannelloni from scratch! We were taught how to make the pasta, filling, and sauces shared with us from her own and her family's treasured recipes!

You'll have to excuse the paper plate. I already packed the dishes.

My husband and I are now home owners!! We are so excited and slightly nervous about the reality of not having a landlord anymore. At the moment you are reading this, I am probably knee deep in boxes, trying to figure out where everything goes in our new house. I actually waited until sort of the last minute to make this month's challenge (that has been happening a lot lately...) because I was hoping to have this be the inaugural meal made in my new kitchen. Unfortunately that didn't happen. Instead, I held off packing anything in the kitchen until the day before the move so I could do this challenge as the last glorious send off of the old kitchen.

When I read about this month's challenge I texted my husband immediately and told him about it. He is (as I have mentioned before) Italian and his family has their own tried and true recipes for delicious sauce and Italian dishes. I was excited to try making pasta from scratch, even though I knew that without a pasta maker I was in for a lot of rolling pin work.

Fast forward to this past Sunday. The school year finished on Friday, we had just found out that we would in fact be closing on the house on the 12th, and oh yeah, we are leaving for our honeymoon trip to Napa, Sonoma, and San Francisco on the 17th. I had just finished packing up about 50% of what needs to be packed, moved lots of heavy boxes and now I'm rolling out egg noodles. Stress levels in our house were high, but the smell of sautéing onions, and homemade tomato sauce helps with that. So does wine :)

I'll just say one more thing: homemade pasta is worth it. Yes it is slightly time consuming, but not too bad. My mom always told me that a pasta maker is just an appliance that takes up room in your cabinet, but I am beginning to think that I need one. Until then, I'll continue rolling it out by hand.

Fresh Egg Pasta
What you need to know about egg pasta is that it is simple. All you need: a proportional amount of egg to flour, one egg to every 100 grams of flour.

Ingredients (to make 4 servings of cannelloni)
100 grams (⅔ cup plus 2 teaspoons) all purpose flour
1 large egg

Directions (for rolling by hand)
1. Put the flour and egg into a food processor and mix. When the dough looks like crumbs, pour it onto a countertop sprinkled with flour. Knead well by hand until you obtain a smooth dough. Make it into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.

2. Cut out a piece of egg pasta dough and flatten it into a rectangular shape with your hands. Roll dough flat and thin, about 1mm thick. Cut into rectangular sheets for cannelloni (4"x6").

Béchamel Sauce
Ingredients (enough for the 4 serving Cannelloni dish)
2 cups milk, hot
3½ tablespoons butter
⅓ cup all-purpose flour
1 pinch salt
1 pinch nutmeg

Directions
1. Put the butter in a non-stick pot and let it melt. Add the flour and whisk constantly until well incorporated: this is the "roux". Let it cook for a minute or two.

2. Now start adding hot milk little by little, while mixing continuously until the milk is well incorporated. Do not add more milk unless it is well incorporated. Keep doing so until all the milk is incorporated.

3. Add salt and nutmeg and cook on a low flame for 10 minutes or until it thickens.

4. When ready, cover it to prevent a film to appear on the surface.

Cannelloni di carne


Meat filling ingredients
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
1 onion, chopped
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 bay leaf
5 tablespoons white wine
1½ cups Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated
¾ cups of the béchamel sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Tomato sauce
1 small onion, chopped
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2¾ cups tomato purée
a few basil leaves
salt and pepper to taste

To assemble
The remaining béchamel sauce
½ cup Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated

Directions:
1. Start by cooking the meat for the filling. Put the 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a pan with the chopped onion and sauté until soft and translucent. Now add the meat and bay leaf and stir well with a wooden spoon making sure you remove all the lumps. Brown the meat well. Add the white wine and raise the fire to burn off the alcohol. Cook for 10 minutes on medium heat and then keep it aside to cool down. (At this point, I actually drained the meat even though it wasn't in the recipe.)

2. Now prepare the tomato sauce. Place the 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pot with the chopped onion and sauté until soft and translucent. Now add the tomato purée, salt, pepper and basil. Cover and cook on low for 20 minutes. Then keep it aside to cool down.

3. To make the filling, mix the cooked meat with ¾ cup of béchamel sauce and 1½ cups of Parmigiano Reggiano. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

4. Put a large pot with salty water on the stove and bring to a boil. I used a large shallow pan to make the noodles more manageable. Cook the pasta sheets in the water for 1 minute. Do in batches and place on a clean tea towel to cool.

5. Now take one sheet of cooked pasta and put 1/8 of the filling along the long side of the rectangle. Roll it over to make a cannellone. Do so for the remaining rectangles of pasta.

6. Take a big enough dish to fit all our cannelloni tightly. Spray it with some cooking oil (or melted butter) and pour some tomato sauce on the bottom. Spread it well, especially in the corners. Put the cannelloni in the oven dish on 1 layer.

7. Cover the cannelloni with the remaining tomato sauce and 1¼ cup béchamel sauce and sprinkle with the remaining ½ cup Parmigiano Reggiano.

8. Bake in a pre-heated 350℉ oven for 20 minutes. Then broil them at 400℉ for another 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

Herbed Parmesan Knots

Happy Holidays, dear friends! I hope your day is full of love and family. It is a wonderful time of year to truly appreciate and be aware of how blessed we all are, even if it doesn't seem like it every day. I know that I have so much to be appreciative of this season, having gained a wonderful husband, job and a very kind and generous set of "in laws". 


Looking for a quick, easy appetizer recipe for a holiday (or any other sort of) party? I've got the solution right here! A quick half hour and you have a nice looking, delicious appetizer to serve your hungry guests. We're heading to a family Christmas party later today with these in tow. 


Herbed Parmesan Knots (variation on a recipe from Taste of Home)

• 2 tubes (7.5 oz) refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
• 1 teaspoon dried basil

Cut each biscuit into thirds. Roll each piece into a 3-in. rope and tie into a knot; tuck ends under. Place 2 in. apart on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 400° for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

Combine all other ingredients in a gallon plastic zip-top bag. Add the warm knots and seal bag. Toss to coat. 


These can be made ahead of time and reheated when ready to serve.

An ode to Penzey's

It has been a bit since I updated here, but I've been cooking... just fallen into that trap of forgetting to take photos. A couple weeks ago, we made Calzones at home. It worked out pretty well, but since I had to work that day we used store bought pizza dough. While I'm glad I didn't have to mix and knead the dough on a day when I was tired from work and life in general (although that can be quite therapeutic) the store bought dough just didn't do it for me. I think next time we'll make our own dough.

The calzones themselves are so easy. Just a quarter cup of ricotta cheese, any fillings you like (we used red pepper and hot italian sausage slices), fold 'em over,  and bake as the dough directions say. Serve with marinara or pizza sauce on the side (or as Dave did, pour it on top).

This weekend, we did pork chops and mashed sweet potatoes. I didn't have a specific pork chop recipe in mind, just knew I was going to do a breaded, seasoned pork chop in the oven. So I pulled out the "Mural of Flavor" jar from Penzey's, some basil, garlic, pepper, and oregano. But I honestly think they would have been great with just the "Mural of Flavor" on its own. This stuff is amazing!

Earlier in the fall when I wanted to do a Viennese Chocolate cake that called for Dutch processed cocoa, we went to Penzey's. We had a coupon for a free "gift box" of four different spices. You had to spend $5 to get the free gift box, but in a spice shop that isn't hard to do. We got a bag of the Dutch processed cocoa, a bag of Penzey's taco seasoning to try, and walked out with the gift box as well. The cocoa was to die for, the taco seasoning flavorful without the high sodium you find in grocery store taco seasoning packages, and the gift box a real treasure. The four spices I received were the Mural of Flavor,  Garlic Powder, Ground Black Pepper and a jar of Cinnamon. I've been really quite pleased with all of them.

If you've got a Penzey's near you, you should go check it out! The variety of spices they have is just astounding. Walking around the store, I find myself wanting to try all the new things I haven't heard of and salivating over the things I have.

Italian Beef Stew with Rosemary

This is a great example of a recipe that tastes amazing but looks less so. The first time I made it for the fiance, he immediately asked when I was going to make it again. I rarely repeat recipes other than the few basics such as tacos, chili and the like, simply because there is just so much good food out there and I want to try to make it all. But this is so fantastically good (even though it doesn't look so great) that I'm more than happy to oblige whenever he wants. Plus, it's really easy to make and great for days when you have chores or something else to do as well since there is a lot of non-hands on time with this recipe.

Italian Beef Stew with Rosemary (4 servings)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs lean beef (I usually just get the already cut up stew meat at the grocery store)
3 cups canned peeled tomatoes with basil (I can never find these in the store, so I usually just add my own basil)
3/4 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon thyme
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 sprig fresh rosemary
8 thin slices French or Italian bread
1 clove garlic- peeled

Directions:
1. Trim meat, cut into 1 inch cubes.

2. In a saucepan combine tomatoes, celery, parsley, oregano, thyme, olive oil, salt and pepper. Cover and bring to a boil. Simmer for 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Put sauce through a food mill and set aside (I don't have a food mill, so I just ran it through the blender for a couple seconds).
3. Meanwhile, heat half the butter in a wide flame proof casserole dish. Add beef and cook, stirring until meat loses color. Add chopped garlic and stir. Transfer meat to another dish.
4. Add wine to casserole dish and cook over high heat until it is reduced by half. Add the meat, rosemary and tomato sauce. Cover and simmer for 1.5 to 2 hours.

5. Spread remaining butter on bread slices, toast on both sides in oven. Rub both sides with the garlic clove. Place 2 slices of bread into a warm soup bowl, spoon meat and sauce over all.

"faux-garden" Breadsticks

Along with the lasagna and red velvet cupcakes, for Valentine's I made breadsticks that are very similar to my favorite restaurant breadsticks from a shall-remain-unnamed chain Italian restaurant. As a child I remember being excited to eat there simply because it meant I automatically got to have the breadsticks. This home-made version makes a less-greasy breadstick, which I thought was an improvement. The last few times I ate at the restaurant I thought the breadsticks just had a little too much topping or whatever on them.

The recipe itself is really simple, using ingredients I had on hand already. I also have a focaccia recipe I really enjoy for Italian meals, but I have the feeling that these may take over the "go to recipe" spot. My one issue (which really was a non-issue, but the time saved would help on a week night or busy day) was my usual complaint that a hand mixer just doesn't do bread doughs very well. I mixed in the first couple cups of flour (I did them one at a time and put in the water alternately because I was using the hand mixer, I doubt this is necessary with a stand mixer) but ended up doing the last half by hand. Now I wasn't in a rush, and kneading dough is actually quite stress relieving, but this would be leagues simpler with a stand mixer, I am sure. Yes, there is one on the wedding registry. I think that may have been one of the first things we actually scanned with the gun. So now, onto the recipe!

Ingredients:
1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water, 1 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
4 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon salt

Topping ingredients:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
pinch oregano

1. Place 1/4 cup warm water in bowl of mixer, sprinkle in yeast and set aside until foamy (5 minutes). Add flour, butter, sugar, salt and additional warm water; mix until slightly sticky dough forms, about 5 minutes.

2. On a lightly floured surface, knead dough by hand until smooth and soft, about 3 minutes. Roll into a 2 foot long log, cut into 16 1 1/2 inch long pieces. Knead each piece slightly and shape into a 7 inch long breadstick.

3. Arrange breadsticks 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheets. Cover with a clean cloth, let rise in a warm spot until almost doubled, about 45 minutes.

4. Preheat oven to 400° F. Make the topping: brush 1 1/2 tablespoons of the butter and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Bake until lightly golden, about 15 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, combine the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt with the garlic powder and oregano. Brush warm breadsticks with the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter and sprinkle with the flavored salt.

Stuffed Manicotti

We recently had friends over for dinner at our new place (finally)! We've lived here a month or so now, and we finally have things set up enough to do some entertaining.

You've got to love this wine, just from the label!

This meal started with the wine.  We discovered Da Vinci Chianti last year by accident and it has quickly become one of our favorites. It's a reasonably priced wine that has some wonderfully fruity notes but isn't too sweet. So, the idea was to find a dish to go with a great Italian wine. Where else to look but the wonderful world of Italian food?

We decided on a manicotti, so then the search was on for something that wouldn't totally over-do it calorically. (you have to save room for the wine and salad and garlic bread- plus the surprise coming for dessert!)

Manicotti
10 uncooked manicotti
cooking spray
1 lb sweet Italian sausage (I used turkey sausage to help make this healthier)
1 1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 cups milk
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 cup (6 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
2 cups tomato-basil pasta sauce
1/4 cup grated fresh parmesan cheese

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.

A little bit of "Il tricolore" (would be more so with red meat, I know)

2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Remove casings from sausage. Add to pan, cook for 5 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Add onion and bell pepper and saute for 5 minutes or until tender.
3. Melt butter in medium sauce pan over medium heat. Stir in flour, cook 2 minutes stirring constantly with a whisk. Remove from heat, gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk. Return pan to heat, bring to a boil. Cook 6 minutes or until thickened, stirring constantly with a whisk. Remove from heat, stir in black pepper. Add 1/2 cup of milk mixture to sausage mixture; stir well.
4. Preheat oven to 350.

Note the "tears" in the pasta- ugh!! stuffed pastas!

5. Spoon about 1/3 cup sausage mixture into each manicotti; arrange manicotti in a single layer in a 13x9 inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle mozzarella over manicotti; spread remaining milk mixture evenly over mozzarella. Top milk mixture with pasta sauce, spreading to cover. Sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until bubbly.

I did this recipe in stages, and it can even be frozen after it is put together then baked at a later time. My very Italian fiance has asked that next time we do a "traditional" manicotti- no sausage, no onion, no green pepper, just lots of cheese. He must like me in pants with elastic waistbands. He said he liked this recipe, but next time we must do it "right".