Cannelloni Pasta with Spinach and Ricotta Cheese

Make your holiday dinner special with this classic Italian cannelloni pasta stuffed with creamy spinach, delicate ricotta and rich besciamella sauce. 

Your family and dinner guests will be wowed by this classic and traditional Italian primo piatto, perfect for your holiday meal: cannelloni pasta stuffed with delicate ricotta cheese and fresh, organic baby spinach.
And today I will share you my secret to make this cannelloni creamier than (maybe) you have ever eaten. You are probably familiar with besciamella, right? The heavenly creamy, rich, white sauce, used in lasagna and other oven baked pasta. I not only use besciamella sauce to cover the cannelloni before baking them, but I make some extra and add it to the ricotta and spinach filling. The inside of each cannellone will be soft and moist, creamy and cheesy. Yes! So much better this way.
Happy Holidays!

Ingredients: to make around 16 cannelloni, serving 4-5

• around 16 cannelloni pasta, or lasagna pasta (a little less than one box)
• 12 oz (340 gr) fresh, organic baby spinach
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter
• 10 oz (280 gr) of ricotta cheese (I used whole milk)
• 1 egg
• around 5 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese (divieded)
• salt

for the besciamella sauce:

• 3.5 cups (825 ml) milk
• 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup (75 gr) of all-purpose flour
• salt, nutmeg

Preparation time: one hour
Directions:

1. Simmer the spinach in slightly salted water for about 5 minutes.

2. Prepare the besciamella sauce using the quantities above and following this recipe
3. Drain well the spinach and cut in pieces. In a pan, saute' the garlic cut in slices with one tablespoon of butter. Add the drained spinach and salt to taste if necessary. Saute' for a couple of minutes, to remove the extra water and give the butter-garlicky flavor to the spinach.

4. In a bowl, mix together the spinach (I removed the garlic) with the ricotta cheese, the egg, and around 3 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese. Stir in one cup of besciamella sauce.

5. Preheat the oven to 375º F (190º C). Drizzle a couple of tablespoons of besciamella sauce on the bottom of a baking pan. Using a small spoon or a piping bag, fill the cannelloni pasta with the ricotta and spinach filling, and place them on the baking dish. It might get messy, but that's not a problem. Everything will be covered up with white sauce. You can always make your piping bag using wax paper or a sandwich bag, with one corner cut.

6. Cover the cannelloni with the remaining besciamella sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese. Bake covered for 10 minutes. Uncover and finish cooking for 15 more minutes, until the cheese on top is melted and golden, and the pasta is fully cooked.

Serve hot! Buon appetito

Custard Filled Puff Tower with Caramel Sauce - Profiterol with Caramel

Perfect dessert for your holidays: heavenly delicious puffs filled with rich custard cream, 

all piled up and decorated with crunchy caramel. Irresistible!

This recipe will FOR SURE make a big impression at your holiday dinner table.
Ready to learn how to make these delicious cream puffs?!?
It's not a hard recipe and it uses quite basic ingredients. But it involves many steps.
You first need to prepare the cream puffs, and make sure they are properly baked. If not, they deflate once they are out of the oven. Still good, but not so pretty!
Second, you need a deliciously creamy custard. You probably can't go wrong with this recipe. I made it with corn starch, not flour, and it tastes delicious. It's thick and rich, with pudding-like texture. Amazing with the puffs!
Now, you can fill the puffs with the cream and enjoy them just like that.

Or you can add some caramel, and assemble them in a tower. To make the caramel, you only need to cook the sugar until melted and golden in color. No other ingredients. Easy, but a bit messy. Caramel quickly cools down and sticks everywhere. It ended up all over my kitchen. Stove, counters, floors, ... my camera - please don't ask!
You will need to dip each puff in the hot, melted caramel, and decorate it as you like. Also, be really careful: it's easy to burn your fingers ... yes, I'm talking from experience!
Many steps, but trust me: every bite of this dessert if filled with a soft and sweet bigne', stuffed with heavenly and rich cream, with a sugary caramel crunch.
After all this work, you can take a deep breath, sit down, serve yourself... hmmm... let's say: three puffs (or more!), close your eyes, and enjoy!

Ingredients: to make 26 puffs about 2 inches in diameter
For the puffs:

• 4 oz, 1 stick (110 gr) unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons (30 gr) sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• a pinch of salt
• 10 fl oz (300 ml) water
• 1 cup (150 gr) all-purpose flour
• 4 eggs

For the custard cream:

• 12 fl oz (355 ml) of whole milk
• 4 fl oz (120 ml) heavy whipping cream
• 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup (100 gr) sugar
• 4 tablespoons (40 gr) of corn starch

For the caramel (optional):

• 1 cup (200 gr) of sugar

Preparation time: 90 minutes
Directions:

Step 1: Let's start with the puffs: in a large pan, bring to a boil 10 oz of water with the butter cut in pieces, sugar, vanilla extract and salt.

Step 2: As soon as the water starts to boil, whisk in the flour. Lower the heat, and mix continuously.
When the mixture starts to detach from the sides of the pan, remove from the heat. Place the dough in a different bowl and let cool down for 10 minutes or so.

Step 3: In the meantime you can prepare the custard cream so it has time to cool down. Follow this recipe. using 12 oz of whole milk, 4 oz  heavy whipping cream, 1 teaspoons vanilla extract, 4 egg yolks, 1/2 cup of sugar and 4 tablespoons of corn starch, as listed in the ingredients. Store the custard in the refrigerator when cool, covered with plastic wrap until the puffs are ready.
Step 4: When the puff dough is a bit cooler, mix the eggs, one at the time, until the mixture is nice and smooth.

Step 6: Preheat the oven to 350º F (180º C). Pipe the mixture into balls onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper or silicone mat. Make sure you leave enough space between the puffs, because when they cook they will increase in size.

Step 7: Bake for 30-35 minutes, until they are nicely golden on top. Turn off the oven, and leave the puffs inside, with the door slightly open, until they cool down a bit. This will prevent the puffs to flatten down once outside the oven.

Step 8: Once the puffs are cooled down,  use a piping bag, and fill the puffs with custard cream.

Step 9: If you would like to make a tower, first decide where to place the puffs, and get an idea on how you would like to build it (how many pieces and which are the largest that you will place on the bottom). To prepare the caramel: in a large pot, with heavy bottom, melt the sugar over medium heat. Stir until all the sugar is melted and has a golden color. Remove from the heat and dip the bottom of the cream puffs in the caramel. Place them on the serving plate. The caramel will become hard very quickly so you won't be able to move the puffs. 

Finish the tower and decorate with more caramel, and whipped cream if you like. To make the star, I used melted caramel on parchment paper spread out in the shape of a star (as well as I could). It quickly cools down and easily peel off. You can place it on top of your puff tree, using more caramel to hold it up.

Happy Holidays!

Sole Fillet Rolls with Prosciutto and Asparagus

Ready to wow your guests with these elegant and delicate sole fillets wrapped around prosciutto and asparagus?!?

Here is an easy and quick way to impress your guests. These sole fillets are quite simple to prepare, following this step-by-step recipe. The delicate taste of the sole fish perfectly combines with the savory aroma of the prosciutto and the beautiful and unique flavor of the asparagus. Sprinkled with white wine and chopped Italian parsley, these rolls are baked (not fried), making a super healthy dinner.

Ingredients: serving 4

• 8 dover sole fillets
• 8 slices of prosciutto
• 16 asparagus (if thick) or 24 more if thin
• 1/2 cup, plus one tablespoon, of plain bread crumbs
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons of fresh Italian parsley, chopped
• 1/2 cup of white wine
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 garlic clove (optional)
• salt

Preparation time: 45 minutes
Directions:
Step 1: Remove the bottom part of the asparagus stalk, sanpping it with your hands as close to the bottom as you can. Boil the asparagus in a pan with salted water for 5-8 minutes based on how thick the asparagus are.
Step 2: While the asparagus are cooking, in a bowl, mix together the bread crumbs, with two tablespoons of parsley and the egg. Add some olive oil (maybe one or two tablespoons) to make the mixture come together.

Step 3: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Over each sole fillet, place a slice of prosciutto, some of the bread crumb mixture and two asparagus. Roll the fillet as shown in my picture.

Step 4: Place all the rolls into an oven pan, seams down. Sprinkle with one tablespoon of bread crumbs and one of parsley. Add the white wine, and salt to taste. Cover with aluminum foil, and bake for about 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 10 minutes or until the sole fillets are fully cooked.

Enjoy!

Risotto with Cuttlefish

Satisfy your craving for a delicious Italian primo piatto with this rich cuttlefish risotto

I have not prepared a risotto in quite some time. And with this chilly and rainy day tonight I really felt  in the mood for a deliciously tasty, rich and creamy seafood risotto with cuttlefish. It's easy, quick and a great one-dish family dinner.
Cuttlefish is a mollusk, similar to squid and octopi in taste and texture, not as common here in California, as in Italy. I bought mine frozen at the local fish market. Cuttlefish ink is used in many Italian dishes, like risotto al nero di seppia or also black seafood pasta. Both really delicious!
Tonight I did not have any ink to make my risotto black. But as soon as I find and buy some, I will post a recipe.

Ingredients: serving 4

• 1 lb (450 gr) of clean cuttlefish
• 2 tablespoons of extra olive oil
• half onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove
• half cup of white wine
• 1 and half cups of fish stock (or vegetable) or water
• 1 tablespoon of fresh Italian parsley, chopped
• 1.5 cups of arborio rice

Preparation time: 45 minutes
Directions:
Step 1: In a large sauce pan, saute' the garlic and chopped onion in the olive oil.

Step 2: As soon as the onion are softer and slightly golden, add the cuttlefish cut in pieces. Salt to taste, and cook for 10 minutes or so.

Step 3: Stir in the wine, and after one minute add the rice. Let cook for a couple of minutes and add some stock or water.

Step 4: Cook the risotto, stirring every few minutes, and adding water or more stock when necessary. The risotto should be ready in about 15-18 minutes.

Add the parsley and serve immediately.