"Nan" > wrote in message
...
On Feb 22, 6:46 am, "Hoges in WA" > wrote:
>snipped
sounds good, but I'm interested in the spinach & beef cannoloni
recipe. THAT sounds wonderful. Do you share that recipe??
Nan in DE Thanks

No problem

Filling

1 onion, chopped finely

2 or 3 cloves of garlic, crushed

1.2kg mince

400g chopped spinach (chopped very fine)

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp dried basil

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 eggs

½ cup cream

Salt pepper



Fry onion and garlic until it starts to brown and onion goes soft

Add mince, break it up as it cooks as you want it very fine.

When it is brown, add oregano, basil and tomato paste

Cook for a further 5 - 10 minutes on a reduced heat

Add the spinach and combine well

Beat eggs and add cream to the mixture.

Fold into meat/spinach mixture.

Season with salt and pepper.



Remove from heat to cool as you need to handle it later.

You can cook this ahead and take it out of the fridge if you want, although
it would need to sit a while at room temperature so it can be soft enough to
go into the Cannelloni tubes



Bechamel sauce

2 sliced onions or 1 big one.

A dozen peppercorns

3 cups of milk

30 grams of butter

2 tbsps flour (may need one more)

½ cup cream

Salt and pepper



Put the onion, peppercorns and milk into a saucepan and bring to boil
slowly.

Remove from heat, stand about 5 minutes.

Melt butter in another saucepan and stir in flour over moderate heat.

Strain the milk into this, making sure there are no lumps.

Stir until the sauce boils and thickens.

Put in the cream, salt and pepper



Tomato sauce

1.5litres tomato passata or 1kg chopped tomatoes or similar

1 chopped onion

2 or 3 cloves of garlic

3 or 4 tbsp tomato paste

1tsp sugar (I don't know how much this adds to it but I was always told it
makes a difference)

Salt and pepper



Heat a little oil in a pan.

Add onion and garlic - cook until onion is soft.

Pour in tomato passata or if using tinned, chopped tomatoes, push them
through a sieve.

Add tomato paste, sugar, salt and pepper



Assembly

250g Mozzarella

Small amount of Parmesan for grating



Push filling into Cannelloni tubes (I can't do this without breaking the
tubes so my wife does it)

Put a layer of tomato sauce in the bottom of a large oven dish

Lay first row of Cannelloni tubes along the bottom.

Put another layer of tomato sauce, and a second layer of Cannelloni tubes.

Put a final layer of tomato sauce on the top

Spread Bechamel sauce over this.

Grate Mozzarella cheese over the top or cheat and buy a packet of already
grated Mozzarella.

(I can't tell any difference so I use the grated)



Grate some Parmesan onto the Mozzarella.



Bake in 180° oven for about 20-30 minutes.



Ca- make sure ALL of the tubes are covered by the sauce/s - any bits of
pasta sticking out will go hard and not nice.

You may end up with surplus tomato sauce and some surplus filling. No big
deal - put it in the fridge and pour it over spaghetti or similar another
day.

The above is pretty rough but it generally works quite smoothly. I really
hate it when I get the Bechamel wrong and don't have enough so I force
myself to put the three cups of milk in.