A Secret -- and Cannelloni

I've been keeping a secret for a few months . . . . not a really big secret  (Like my book is coming out next month! --  I wish!)

It's just a little secret . . . . I've been teaching a neighbor boy how to cook.  He just turned 8, but he was 7 when we started last summer. Every two weeks, he comes to my house after school and we cook together for a couple hours in my little kitchen.  And we have a ball.

At first, we were both a little tentative, but before long we were acting every bit the grandmother and grandkid we looked like together. We joke some, I nod approvingly when he measures correctly, he teases. We cook good stuff and we have good fun.

Wyatt  loves to bake. And although baking's not my strongest suit in the kitchen, I can definitely handle the basics. (We won't be making puff pastry anytime soon.) The biggest plus about baking with a child, for me anyhow,  is that, for the most part, knives aren't involved  Soon enough for that. For now, if we need to chop something -- like onions for meatballs -- we use my mini-chopper.

We have made a variety of great food -- cupcakes, cookies, meatballs, breaded chicken, pizza, Oreo truffles. Our goal is usually to make something he can take home for dinner that he made as well as a dessert or a treat he can share with friends at school the next day. And something that's manageable in under two hours.

The breaded chicken was different to me.  I learned his mother was gluten-free and we tried something she steered me to: using crushed rice Chex cereal as the coating. It was great!

We've had a couple minor accidents: He dropped an egg on the floor;  I dropped a tray of just baked cookies. Once, while cleaning up, he pretty much sprayed my window above the sink as much as the dishes.

I wasn't looking for a cooking student. It was his mother's idea. She knew I had been a teacher, that I wrote a food column for the local paper, and that I had this blog. And I was nearby.

And her son likes to cook.  She reasoned that her older son was taking music lessons and golf lessons. Why not find a teacher for what her middle son liked to do? Makes perfect sense. Although she herself likes to cook, she has a job, two other kids and this little arrangement provides her son something that's just for him. I'm impressed by her original thinking.

One of the main dishes we made was stuffed shells.  We stuffed the shells with a sausage and cheese fiilling using a recipe from Sticky, Gooey, Creamy.

There was plenty of filling for two dozen stuffed shells. And we didn't scrimp on stuffing them either. So I was left with filling and no shells. So the next day, I made crepes and we had cannelloni instead.  Same filling, different container.

Sausage and Cheese Cannelloni
adapted from Sticky, Gooey, Creamy

1 dozen crepes* (click here for my recipe)

1 pound sweet or hot Italian sausage, casings removed

2 tablespoons olive oil

16-ounces whole milk ricotta

2 cups shredded mozzarella, divided

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons minced, fresh, flat-leaf parsley

Salt and ground black pepper to taste

4 cups prepared marinara sauce, homemade or jarred

Preheat oven to 375 F.  

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Crumble the sausage into the skillet and fry until lightly browned.  Using a wooden spoon, break the meat into small bits as it cooks.  

Combine cooked sausage, ricotta, 1 cup mozzarella, 1/2 cup Parmesan, eggs, parsley, salt and pepper together in a large bowl and mix well.

Pour enough marinara sauce in a 9×13 baking dish to cover the bottom of the dish, about 1 1/2 cups.  Place about 2 tablespoons of filling down the middle of each crepe. Fold the side over and place, seam side down, on top of the sauce.  Ladle the rest of the marinara on top.  Sprinkle with the rest of the mozzarella and Parmesan, cover with foil and bake until bubbly, about 30-35 minutes.  Remove the foil and continue to bake for another 10-15 minutes, until the cheese is gooey and melted and begins to brown.  Remove and let stand about 10 minutes before serving.

* Crepes are time consuming and are a definite "do-ahead" in my book. You can make them the day before, keep them separated by squares of waxed paper, and place in the fridge. Or you can stack them and store them (again, separated by waxed paper) in the freezer for up to 3 months. Just thaw some before using.