Thursday, June 11, 2009

Cannelloni on the Farm

So, I wanted to do something with the unripened sheep cheese I had made. It was a lot like Ricotta so I decided to make Cannelloni. I have never made cannelloni before so I looked up recipes on the internet and realized that you can basically stuff the noodles with whatever you want. So I made up my own recipe. Now, if you know me, you know that is one big leap of faith. I am a religious recipe follower. I might adjust a recipe but I always use one. I don't know, I felt brave last night...

I used one entire batch of soft, unripened sheep cheese (made from 1 litre of milk) that I had just finished making yesterday. It was probably about 2 - 2.5 cups worth. I added to that some fresh chopped up nettle. I didn't measure, I just threw in what looked like a good amount - probably around 1 cup. Then I added about a cup of Parmesan cheese - fresh grated, fresh basil from the garden - about 3/4 of a cup, 3 cloves of garlic, minced and 1.5 lbs of organic ground beef, fried up with oregano, green onions and celery. I mixed it all up into this delicious, creamy mixture and stuffed the cannelloni shells. At first I gingerly used a spoon to try to fill them but quickly abandonned that as it was getting late and we were hungry. Rhiannon and I used our hands. It was mucky but a whole lot faster. We arranged them in a glass baking pan and poured a jar of canned tomaotes over top. Topped that with more fresh basil and another cup of parmesan cheese and baked for 45 minutes. And it was sooooooo good!

Although I insisted to Rhiannon that I did, in fact, NOT use sheep cheese - it was ricotta, I told her.... And she gobbled down more than her fair share. Right now I am smugly enjoying this fact. I don't know when I will tell her it was my sheep cheese.... maybe the next time she makes disparaging comments? Or maybe in a year or two...? or maybe never. Funny, she had no problem with the nettles...

Pictures? Sorry, no. It was almost 8pm when we started making them and after 9 when we got to eat them. We were way to hungry, and our hands way too messy to take any pictures. I could show you pictures of the dirty glass pan, though...It was really, good, though! Unripened sheep cheese and nettle cannelloni. You should try it!

6 comments:

Andrea said...

yes, it was, if I do say so, myself

amyleigh said...

you LOVE making comments like "you should try it", when you know full well that most of us have no way of trying it! argh. You're just trying to get visitors, I tell you.

Andrea said...

Hey! You make it sound as though I am coercing you to do something horrible.

amyleigh said...

lol, not at all...i'm just bitter because all of the food you've been mentioning sounds sooo good.

Beth-a-knee said...

quit syaing 'you should try it'!! it fills me with despair because i never CAN. where am I going to get unripened sheep cheese and fresh basil and all of that, huh? (it sounded soo good, I'm so hungry right now)

Andrea said...

Well, funny you should mention it because I just happen to have some unripened sheep cheese right here - a short drive away from you where there is also a bed for you where you are always welcome along with your entourage (Ben and Owen)