Cannelloni Recipe

If you'd like to cook a delicious gourmet meal for Easter, try my Italian Cannelloni Recipe. I served it last night as I entertained twenty guests to celebrate the recovery of a friend who had a recent surgery. In addition, I cooked grape leaves(Middeleastern), moussaka (Greek), spinach spinakopica, (Greek) eye round roast, baked potatoes, ragout oakra, rice with vermicelli, and salads. Cannelloni Recipe 1- Prepare the mix: Mix together in a blender or mixer-- 3 eggs-- 1 ¾ cups of 2% milk--1 Tsp of butter-- 1 cup of flour.

2- Prepare the pancake: Use an electric skillet or any other type but adjust the stove temperature to 400o-- Melt ½ a Tsp of butter in the skillet at 400o-- Measure ¼ cup of the mix and pour over the melted butter --Spread evenly in the skillet --Remove when cooked and slid in a plate-- Repeat until the whole mix is made into pancakes-- You usually get 13 big pancakes with one dose of mix. I like to cut the pancakes in half.

3- Prepare the filling: 1 lb of ground beef-- 1 small onion-- 1 tsp all spice-- Salt and pepper-- 1 cup Ragu tomato sauce --Darken and cook the ground beef, onion and spices, until well cooked. Add the sauce and simmer till the meat is done. Set aside.

4- Rolling the cannelloni: Use a clean plate to transfer a half-pancake on it. Add one Tsp of ground meat over the pancake and roll it over to form a cannelloni. Repeat with the rest of the pancakes. With this dose of mix you can prepare 26 small cannellonis or 13 big ones. 5- Cooking: Spray the the pan with Pam. Brush the bottom with tomato sauce. Arrange the cannellonis in a 9x13 pan in two rows. Pour enough tomato sauce to cover each cannelloni. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese or Romano cheese. Bake at 300o for 20 minutes. Bon appétit.

Here is adinner scene from my latest novel Rx IN RUSSIAN:

“Dinner time,” Babushka called as she carried in a big platter covered with stuffed cabbage rolls.

Fyodor set his glass on the table and rushed to take the load from her hands. “It is too heavy, Mama. Give me that.” The last time he had given her a physical, he’d noticed an irregularity in her heartbeat.

“Do not pay attention, Dr. Jillian. My son always acts as if I am a fragile old woman.” She shrugged and relinquished the plate to Fyodor. “Careful, do not spill the sauce,” she warned, waggling her finger at him as if he were still her little boy.

He laughed, not one bit offended, and winked at Jillian. “My mother should have been a general like my father. She is so good at ordering people around.” Jillian smiled, obviously amused.

“How do you expect me to raise your little devils if I am not tough?” Babushka protested. “They are turning into good children, well-disciplined. I do not spoil them like you do.”

“Oh Mama, I hardly see them.” He placed the basket of bread Andrei handed him on the table. “I am starved. Can we start eating?”

“Of course. Dr. Jillian, sit here. Fyodor, on her right. Alexander, next to your papa. Andrei, next to Dr. Jillian. I will keep Igor and Sergei at my side to help them eat cleanly.”

Amazingly, the independent and assertive Dr. Burton smiled and obeyed as quickly as his kids. “Please, Mrs. Vassilov, will you call me Jillian?”

“Da, da. Jillian. You call me Babushka, like everyone in the building. Give me your plate, dear.” His mother served Jillian generously and kept on chatting without taking time to breathe. “We have stuffed cabbage today. I hope you like it. Later you will taste my homemade dessert, rice pudding. Fyodor, give me your plate.”

“Not so much.” He laughed at the mountain of cabbage his mother piled on his plate. “I will help myself. Take care of the children, Mama.”

His mother gave each of the children their share of the meal and cut the cabbage rolls into small pieces for the toddlers. “Fyodor works very hard at the hospital. He should be home more often. If only he could find—”

“No hospital talk, please.” Fyodor raised a hand. “We are here to relax.” Knowing his mother, she would soon embark on her favorite subject—finding a good wife for her son.

RX IN RUSSIAN available at The Wild Rose Press, ebook and print.