Baked Sausage Canneloni

     I am not a big fan of tomatoes. I do tolerate them, and occasionally want something made with them, however, whenever there’s an option I usually will forego them

     I am a huge fan of trying new recipes, from easy to intermediate, I still stay away from the expert preparations, I do not feel I am anywhere near an expert in cooking techniques, except, perhaps, for my own recipes. I keep it on the easier side, whenever I can. 

     That being said I am going to make crepes in place of the cannelloni shells. Sounds like more work rather than less, but it was either crepes or another recipe requiring bread bowls. That’s a toss up, but 30 minute rest as opposed to a 2 hour  rise? I’ll take the 30 minute rest. 

    And why am I using crepes, instead of buying cannelloni shells? Too small. I guess I could have used manicotti shells, but, nah! I’m a glutton for punishment. And I am doing a home experiment, anyway, details of which I reserve the right to withhold! Lol! Nothing sinister, mind you, merely proving a point to myself! (It’s really nothing, probably shouldn’t have mentioned it, but I was letting you all in on an inner working of my mind.) Scary, I know! 

     I’m going to post photos of the progress! Something I don’t usually remember to do! But I’m recuperating from surgery, what else do I have to do? Lol!

Crepes: (for savory dishes)

•  1 cup all-purpose flour 
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup milk, warmed
• 3 Tbsp melted butter
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 Tbsp cooking oil, for the skillet

    Mix flour, salt, eggs, milk, butter and water in a large bowl, whisking until well combined and is smooth and slightly thick. Let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. Don’t skip the rest, trust me in this. The batter can also be covered and stored in fridge for up to 2 days. (Allow to come to room temperature before using if you hold it-check it’s temperature, you want as close to room temperature as you can get it, it won’t come out the same if the batter is too cold. 

Crepe batter, resting 30 minutes:

   

   Heat a 10 inch skillet over medium-high heat. Grease skillet with 1/2 tsp vegetable oil, swirling pan to evenly coated pan, wiping out excess. The original instructions tells you that you can add more oil between, my pan is so well seasoned I did not add one more drop of oil! Yay! Oh, you use your favorite pan, non-stick or not, I personally prefer my 18/10 stainless steel 10 inch sauté pan by Wolfgang Puck, or my ancient Farberware, and I don’t even OWN a non-stick pot or pan (with the exception of the George Forman Grill and my waffle iron-which I have never seen other than non-stick… at least I have never, but they could be out there!)  But if your cookware is seasoned properly you don’t need non-stick. Yes, I do test it first, and sometimes you do have to do a little repair before you get going, but it doesn’t take long, well, maybe I’ll hold a class… nah…

    Ok… not here to debate non-stick… 

    Test the temperature by dropping a few drops of water on the pan- if they dance and then disappear, the pan is ready. I then lower the temperature to medium. 

   Quickly pour 1/3 cup batter in center of pan (it will sizzle a bit!) and then tilt the pan around to get the batter to coat the entire bottom of the pan. Let it sit for a minute or two. Peek under to check for tan to brownish color, flip (I used a LARGE Serving spatula by Pampered Chef) I found this batter very sturdy and easy to flip. Some recipes suggest using a pair of tongs, you do you-I love my spatula! 

   By the way, this is the only time I use a dry measuring cup for wet ingredients-who wants to pour into a measuring cup to measure when you can just scoop and get just about an even portion each time you scoop? I like the convenience. (See? I DO break my own rules)! Lol! 

     Cook second side until golden. Put on a greased pan in a slightly warmed oven, cover with towel. Repeat with all the batter. 

   

First crepe in!

Flip!!!

      I got 8 crepes from the recipe. 

      Onto the filling!

   Now if you know me, you know I don’t eat mushrooms, and that is generally true, however, if they are sautéed to a crispy texture I can tolerate them. This recipe called for a very small amount, diced very small, and the instructions gave me a window to get them to crispy,  so I figured I’d give this one a shot… 

     Over on Facebook I posted a link to the recipe on  Johnsonville’s website. I pretty much followed their recipe except I really cooked the mushrooms to CRISPY, and only used about 3 ounces. As I said I’m not a fan. I am happy to report in the end they didn’t taste like mushrooms anymore AND they didn’t make the dish taste like dirt!!! Lol. They contributed to the umami (savory, meaty) profile along with the sausage.

     19 oz Johnsonville Italian sausage removed from casings

     2 Tbsp olive oil

    1/2 medium onion, finely chopped

    3  ounces baby Bella mushrooms, finely chopped

    12 ounces mozzarella cheese, cubed or shredded

     2 egg yolks

     6 tablespoons butter

     6 tablespoons flour

      3 cups whole milk 

      1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, grated

      1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded

       1 teaspoon dried parsley (or oregano) 

The original recipe calls for oregano, however, cooked oregano gives me such acid reflux that I have to leave it out. I can and do add fresh chopped on AFTER the dish is cooked, but something happens to oregano when it cooks (it does NOT go in my spaghetti sauce either). I’ll have to do some research if you really want to know what happens to oregano when it’s cooked.  Hmmm. Maybe I’ll submit a question to Americas Test Kitchen. They do experiments and get into the chemistry of foods so maybe they can explain it. Something to think about. 

      Have you ever heard of aspiration pneumonia? 

      Side story here: after years of searching I finally found, right here in Bradenton, a pizza place that makes a pretty decent pizza-just have to order it “well done”. It’s about the closest thing to good LI pizza we’ve been able to find outside of LI, NY. The place changed cooks, we got a pizza, hurst a few weeks ago, that was doused with oregano prior to cooking. You could see it all over the top melted into the cheese.  That was one pizza where the Big E got to eat 7 of eight slices himself (not in one sitting, silly). I took one slice and first bite in I said, “oh, no!” I finished that one slice, and not really enjoying it, and I woke up in the middle of the night with stomach acid flowing up. I shot up and was able to spit it out so I didn’t aspirate it like I’ve done only once before. Luckily I averted a repeat, because who needs that anyway?  Cooked oregano is the ONLY food to causes that on me. I was so disappointed! I guess it’s Calzones only from that place from now on. Maybe I can tell them no oregano? I’ll ask Joe if we decide to try again. (Sorry for the detour, but I like to tell you why I don’t use an ingredient so you know I’m not being picky just to be picky. I have a reason -if you can tolerate cooked oregano-go right ahead and use it. If you should wake up in the middle of the night aspirating stomach acid, you, too, might have to eliminate cooked oregano from your diet. That’s my P.S. announcement for today! 

    Oye vey! Can I digress! But I’m having fun!!!

     Make the filling: In a large skillet over medium heat add olive oil, onion and mushroom cook for 5 minutes allowing the onion to soften and the mushrooms to release liquid.

    Once most of the liquid has dissipated, add sausage crumbling it with a wooden spoon into small pieces as it cooks. Stir and cook all ingredients until the onion is softened and the sausage is no longer pink and is starting to brown. Set aside.

     To make a béchamel sauce: Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. (Roux coming!) Add flour and stir until well incorporated. Slowly, add milk and whisk together until smooth. Continue whisking until sauce comes to a slow boil and starts to thicken. Stir half this sauce into the sausage mixture. (Reserve the other half to pour on top of the cannelloni.) Add cubed mozzarella to the sausage and sauce mixture and continue stirring while slowly whisking in the egg yolks; (I thought they’d scramble, but they didn’t); mix to combine cover and set aside.

    Here where you would cook the cannelloni pasta to al dente, but I already made the crepes. 

***Another alternative substitution: use flour tortillas. I had a bit more filling than I could use in the 8 crepes, so, I figured I’d try it. 

      Very early in this blog (years ago) I made Mexican lasagna, using flour tortillas in place of lasagne noodles with excellent success, I’m believing they will work here, too. I usually inky have burrito size and as it turned out, it was perfect for the extra filling I had. 

     Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

     Put 1/2 of the remaining béchamel on the bottom of an oiled 9x13 casserole. 

     I filled each crepe with about 3 tablespoons of the filling, rolling up, but not tucking in sides like you would for a burrito, and nestled them into the sauce. Poured the rest of the béchamel over the top; sprinkle with the mozzarella and Parmesan (of course I prefer Romano cheese). I sprinkled with parsley (you can use oregano). Bake, uncovered about 45 minutes. 

       The sauce really tightened up, so there wasn’t any free-flowing, but it was perfect—really! 

      It was a win. The Big E, my resident Guinea Pig, er.. taste-tester, said “please make this again!”

      I will try to make the crepes a day ahead, next time, I used a lot of pots and prep bowls for this. My resident kitchen maid (also the Big E) said that as long as I keep making good stuff, he’ll clean up the kitchen, but I’d feel better not to pile the dirty pots, pans, bowls, utensils quite so high. 

    Wow! Now THAT was a long post. 

     I do hope you try it yourself (you don’t have to use the crepes, go ahead, use the cannelloni , or manicotti shells, or even the tortillas. But do let me know what you think and how you changed it up for your family. 

     Until next time Mangia! 

    Visit Johnsonville for more recipes!

https://www.johnsonville.com/recipe/baked-cannelloni.html

~ijn