I am particularly fond of cannelloni made with crepes filled with chicken with tomato sauce then covered with a white sauce and cheese. " Sunset" had an excellent recipe. It's incredibly tasty. Let me know if you want it.

Pam

Chris, I've had good results from the few recipes I've used from Rao's. I especially like their meatballs.

I don't mean to ignore, or bypass PamD's honest question. I want to "center in" on the conversation between Chris, and Champagne.

Rao's is one of my favorite books, their meatball recipe is "killer". I would caution first time makers, to "sneak up" on the lukewarm water. It can get to "loose"

Other books I refer to, are "The Wiseguys Cookbook," by Henry Hill, and "The Mafia Cookbook". by Joseph Ianuzzi. OK; I don't have to "buy in" to their life style, in order to appreciate their culinary skills.








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Maynard, I still don't have Rao's cookbook. One of these days I'll go check Amazon. I found it at a used book store once and passed it up...darn!

Pam, I would love to see that cannelloni recipe.

Would you mind giving me the exact name of the "Rao's" cook book? I'm not familiar with it. Thanks.

Maynard, you can bypass me any time. By the way, we took our son back to UC Santa Cruz and as we went by Goleta (both ways) I doffed by cap to you.
We prefer the 101. It has more variety of scenery, more places to stop ( old age bladder) and it's just beautiful. Where do you get off for Goleta? You can't see the town from the freeway at all.

Pam, "incredibly tasty"? I'm in for giving it a try. Please, let's have that cannelloni recipe. "Rao's Cookbook: Over 100 Years of Italian Home Cooking" is the name of the book I have.

Maynard, the Rao's cookbook definitely has a lot of character. Great photos and anectdotal stories. The reason I bought that book was I was looking for a good red sauce recipe, and I wanted to try the "Sunday Gravy" with "Anna and Frankie's Meatballs". Yup, totally killer.

Chris

Here's the recipe. It's long and labor intensive, but one of my favorites. It's from Sunset's "Favorite Recipes II", published in 1982. I will type it as written. I have changed things over the years and will add my notes at the end.

Cannelloni Roma

14 to 18 Basic Crepes

3 eggs
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1 cup milk
About 4 teaspoons butter or margarine

In a blender or food processor, whirl eggs and flour until smooth. Then add milk and blend until thoroughly combined. Or you can mix the ingredients in a bowl with an egg beater and blend until smooth. ( At this point, you may cover and refrigerate until next day; bring batter to room temperature before cooking.)
Place a 6 or7 inch crepe pan or other flat bottomed frying pan over medium heat. When pan is hot add 1/4 teaspoon butter and swirl to coat surface. Stir batter and pour in 2 tablespoons, quickly tilting pan so batter flows over entire surface. If heat is correct and pan is hot enough, crepe sets at once, forming tiny bubbles(don't worry if there are a few small holes);if pan is too cold, batter makes a smooth layer. Cook until surface is dry and edge is lightly browned.
Turn with spatula and cook until other side is lightly browned. Turn out onto a plate. Repeat to make each crepe; stir batter occasionally and stack crepes. If made ahead, let cool; then place wax paper between crepes, package airtight( in quantities you expect to use), and refrigerate for up to a week; or freeze for longer storage. Bring crepes to room temperature before separating.

Makes about 18 crepes.


Filling

4 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
! large onion, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 pounds chicken thighs, skinned, boned and cut into 2- inch cubes
!/2 pound boneless veal, cut into 2- inch cubes.
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 egg

Melt butter in a wide frying pan over medium heat. Add garlic and onion and cook until onion is soft. Add chicken and veal and stir to coat each piece with butter. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer until meat is tender (about 35 minutes).
Using a food processor or finest blade of a meat grinder, finely chop meat mixture. Mix in ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, salt and nutmeg. (At this point you may cover and refrigerate until nest day).
Mix in egg just before spooning filling into crepes.


White Sauce

4 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups regular-strength chicken broth
1 cup milk

Melt butter in a 2 quart pan over medium-high heat. Blend in flour and cook, stirring, until bubbly. Gradually pour in broth and milk; continue cooking and stirring until sauce boils and thickens (about 30 minutes). Set aside.


Tomato Sauce

1 1/2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 tablespoons chopped shallots or green onion (white part only)
1 can (about 1 lb.) Italian-style tomatoes
1/2 cup regular-strength chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon each dry basil and salt

1 1/2 pounds thinly sliced teleme or jack cheese

Melt butter in a 2 quart pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and cook until soft. Cut tomatoes in half and squeeze out seeds, reserving juice; discard seeds. Finely chop tomatoes. Add tomatoes and juice to pan along with broth, basil and salt. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens (about 30 minutes).


Lightly grease a shallow baking dish bout 12 by 15 inches; 2 shallow baking dishes, each at least 6 by 15 inches; or 6 to 8 shallow baking dishes, each about 3 by 6 inches. Combine tomato sauce and white sauce and spoon into dish.

Spoon about 1/4 cup of the meat filling down center of each crepe; roll to enclose. Place filled crepes, seam side down, slightly apart in sauce. Evenly distribute cheese slices over cannelloni, covering completely. (At this point you may cover and refrigerate until next day.)
Bake uncovered, in a 450 degree oven until sauce is bubbly and filling is heated through. About 30 to 45 minutes.
Makes about 14 to 16 cannelloni; allow 2 or 3 for each main-dish serving.

Pam's Notes

This is very labor intensive, but if you commit to it you will be pleasantly surprised.

With only three in the family, I halve the amount of meat in the filling and I use just chicken (white or dark) whatever I have around. I don't halve any of the other ingredients in the filling. Sometimes I use drained low fat cottage cheese instead of ricotta cheese. I combine all the filling ingredients together in the processor and process until smooth.

I use "petite diced" canned tomatoes and I double the tomato sauce recipe. I'm greedy when it comes to sauces. I don't like to be skimpy.

Personally I omit all the salt in the ingredients. I use "Better than Bouillon" for my broth and it's plenty salty enough.

I don't mix together the tomato sauce and the white sauce. I place a little tomato sauce in the pan, place the crepes over that and pour the rest of the tomato sauce over the crepes. I ladle the white sauce over that down the middle. The color contrast is prettier. I heat the dish until bubbly and hot and add the cheese at the end and heat until it's melted. If you add it at the beginning it can get too brown.

This recipe is as close to the taste of cannelloni from a now closed Italian restaurant in Sherman Oaks. (Fiore d'Italia)

I hope you enjoy this.

Pam

Pam, it sounds wonderful. I've copied and pasted...thanks for taking the time to post it.

Chris, the Rao's meatball recipe I've use came from one of my Fine Cooking issues a few years back. Frank Pellegrino wrote a section called "The Best Ever Spaghetti and Meatballs." I just checked Fine Cooking's site and found it.

For meatballs:
www.taunton.com/finecooking/recipes/spa ... balls.aspx

For marinara:
www.taunton.com/finecooking/recipes/fra ... sauce.aspx