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santa fe sky, tree (4)

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santa fe sky, tree

the imprecise cook makes cannelloni

Here is an easy, adaptable recipe that even got Hijo helping out - all criteria for great weeknight dinner options. It's also quite delicious.

Almost everything in this recipe can be changed to your taste, the season, and quantity you want to make. 

You'll need:

Fresh pasta sheets or egg roll wrappers, about 1/3 lb., or 8 wrappers
I love the eggroll wrappers they have at my local Safeway. I use them as fresh pasta all the time and they are the perfect size for makeing cannelloni.

Approximately 1 cup ricotta cheese
Stir this up with salt, pepper, and fresh basil if you have it.  Otherwise put whatever seasoning and herbs you like and are handy.  See? Totally adaptable.

2-3 cups red sauce
If it's summer time and you have fresh tomatoes, by all means make the sauce from scratch.  I have used imported Italian canned tomatoes to make sauce, and I have (like tonight) used jarred sauce.

Meat
I'm not even going to list a quantity here, just add what you like to the sauce. Use ground beef, use sweet or hot Italian sausage, use chicken. This is coompletely optional.  I happen to think this is totally delicious with no meat at all, but tonight we added both hamburger and Italian sausage.

Mozzarella and/or parmesan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

If you are making your sauce, or adding things to a store-bought sauce, do that first.  Line the bottom of your baking pan with a generous portion of sauce. Take an eggroll wrapper and place a couple of generous tablespoons of ricotta mixture towards one side.  Roll it up into a tube and place it in your pan on top of your sauce.

Keep going until you fill up your pan.  Then dump the rest of the sauce all over it.  Sprinkle the top generously with paremsan or mozzarella (I prefer parmesan).  Bake for about 30 minutes, or until bubbly.  Let sit for ten minutes before serving.

Updated to add:  Hijo just declared this, "the best thing I've ever eaten in my whole life!"

sunrise, tree