Holy Moly! It's Christmas Cannelloni!

The centerpiece of our family Christmas dinner was my all-time favorite Italian dish: cannelloni. Everybody but the littlest kids liked it, but I wanted them all to eat more, longer, because it took a little more than 30 minutes to get it together! The time consuming part was making the crepes. I guess I could have bought dried manicotti shells, but it wouldn’t have been as special. And it had to be special of course . . . it’s Christmas! (And I’ve been so occupied cooking and all, I haven’t made the time to keep up the blog. Ironic, huh?)

The crepe making (as opposed to crepe hanging) really was a fun job, with a little help from some Christmas music cranked up. The first crepe is always a mess – it’s just for practice as Julia says. And once you get the heat just right and your rhythm going, you’re a one-man assembly line. Ethel without Lucy maybe. If you’re interested in making the crepes, go here. Otherwise, just buy the shells. But I have to warn you, they won’t be as good. The crepes are rich and tender and the perfect envelope for the ground beef, chicken liver and spinach ensemble. And the two different colored, and flavored, sauces were just the right finish. A little extra cheese, a little extra butter for browning and the dish is complete. Very Christmassy.

The beauty of the whole dish was, for me, that it could all be done ahead of time, no last minute fussing to get everything to the table, which meant more time for visiting. A good swap of time. And spending time with family is the best part of Christmas. The food comes second.

Cannelloni
Adapted from Three Rivers Cookbook #1
From the Child Health Association of Sewickley (PA)
Submitted by Mrs. Edward A. Montgomery, Jr.
Makes 36 cannelloni. Serves 12-16

For Filling:
2-10 ounce packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
4 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup finely chopped onion
2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 pounds ground chuck
6 chicken livers
¼ c grated parmesan cheese
4 tablespoons heavy cream
4 large eggs, slightly beaten
2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil

For Béchamel Sauce:
½ cup butter
½ cup flour
2 cups milk
2 cups heavy cream
2 teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon white pepper
¼ teaspoon nutmeg (or three or four scrapes of a fresh nutmeg)

For Tomato Sauce:
4-15 ounce cans plain tomato sauce
2 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons dried oregano

For topping before baking:
¼ cup Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons butter

Preheat oven to 350. Butter (or spray) two 13 x 9 pans, preferably glass.

Heat oil in a large skillet and cook onion and garlic over moderate heat for 7 – 8 minutes, until soft, not browned. Add spinach and cook for another five minutes. When all of the mixture is gone, transfer to a large bowl.

Melt half the butter in the pan and add the chuck, browning lightly and stirring constantly to break up the meat. Add to bowl. Melt the rest of the butter and add the chicken livers to the pan and cook until lightly browned outside and pink inside. Chop the livers coarsely and add to the bowl. Add Parmesan, cream, eggs and herbs and stir all together until thoroughly blended.

Place about 2 tablespoons filling down the middle of a crepe, fold the edges over the middle and place seam side down in prepared casserole.

For Béchamel sauce: Melt the butter over moderate heat, add the flour, then slowly add the milk and cream. Whisk it together and bring it to a low boil, then turn down to a simmer until sauce coats the wires of the whisk.

For Tomato Sauce: Mix the herbs into the plan sauce. Or just use jarred spaghetti sauce, with very little or mild seasoning.

To assemble: Pour the Béchamel sauce evenly over the filled crepes. Then distribute the tomato sauce evenly over all, too. Sprinkle with Parmesan, and dot with butter. Bake uncovered for about 30 minutes. Slide under the broiler, if you want, for a few minutes to brown the top.

Celebrating Spring with a VW and Crepes -- Part II

Although my chicken and broccoli crepes tasted very good, rich and creamy, with just a nice bit of crunch from broccoli and celery and a hint of citrus from the chicken, they looked pretty bland. I guess just that’s the trouble with “white” food. They need a lot of color alongside to make them look more appetizing

(I have trouble with some colors of food, though; I especially have trouble with black food or blue food, even blueberries, which I love and have an overabundance of every summer. I’ve been trying to come up with different ways to use the blueberries, although there’s nothing wrong with pies and muffins and fruit salads. I’m working up the courage to make a blueberry (!) chicken. I’ve been collecting recipes for savory blueberry dishes. One of these days . . .)

The recipe for my crepe filling was inspired by a cookbook I got while on a vacation in New England some time ago. I visited a restaurant called “Peter Christian’s” in a college town in New Hampshire. It was in the early 80’s and there were still hippies around. I found the menu in the restaurant eclectic and intriguing. So I bought the cookbook. Lots of unique sandwiches, like Baked Cheese and Olive, and Pete’s Zaa, a pizza-like sandwich. They had soups like Mushroom Wild Rice and Dilled Asparagus Ham Chowder and a host of Mexican and Italian-inspired dishes and desserts out the wazoo. I believe it was there that I first had crepes as a meal. I had Ham Florentine Crepes, which became the inspiration for my chicken & broccoli crepes of the other day.

Any crepe dish is a labor of love, I think, because you have to have all your “inside” ingredients cooked, or at least thawed, beforehand. So it takes a little time. Since I had fresh broccoli and chicken to cook, that’s where I had to start. My favorite way to cook chicken that I know I’m going to use in another dish, or to make chicken salad, is Lemon Chicken. All you need to do is rub chicken pieces – any kind – with a mixture of dried oregano and freshly ground pepper and salt. Then lay the chicken pieces on a bed of thinly sliced lemons. Then bake. If you’re using pieces with bones and skin, place skin side down for 10 minutes in a 400 degree oven; then turn them, reduce heat to 375 and continue baking until done, about 35 minutes. If you’re using skinless, boneless breasts, as I did this time, reduce the cooking time to abut half-hour total, turning once, and cover.

I cooked the broccoli in the microwave so that was easy. While the broccoli cooked, I shredded the cheese for the sauce. So here’s the whole shooting match (minus the crepes in the March 31 post):

Chicken & Broccoli Crepes

2 T butter
½ cup chopped celery
¼ cup chopped onion
3 cup cooked chicken, cut in small pieces
3 cup cooked broccoli
½ cup butter
½ cup flour
2 cup milk
½ cup chicken broth
1 t dried tarragon
8 ounces Swiss cheese, shredded
1 T lemon juice
2 T sherry (optional)
Salt & pepper to taste
12 cooked crepes

Melt the 2 tablespoons of butter in skillet over medium heat. Add the celery and onion and cook until tender but a little crisp. Combine the cooked celery and onion in a big bowl with chicken and broccoli.

In a saucepan, melt the ½ cup butter. Add the flour and stir until smooth. Then stir in the milk, broth and tarragon, stirring until smooth over low heat until thick. Add the cheese and stir until melted. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice and sherry and salt and pepper to taste. Add half the sauce to the chicken and broccoli mixture.

To assemble, lay a crepe on the work surface and spoon about ¼ cup of the chicken mixture down the middle. Roll each side into the center and lay seam side down in a 13 X 9 casserole that has been buttered or sprayed with non-stick spray. Repeat with the remainder of crepes. Pour remaining half of sauce evenly over all. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes to heat through. Serve 2-3 crepes per person.