Cannelloni al Forno

I made Cannelloni al Forno for dinner via Mario Batali. But be warned the recipe, on Food Network and The Chew, are both wrong in that they suggest you fill the pasta then blanche it. Seeing as how that would end with all of your filling floating in the pasta water turning into a disgusting mess I would suggest filling post pasta blanching. Also, I'm volunteering as a recipe tester for both of these folks. Seriously, dream job. I could stand chopping, stirring and whisking all day.

Nigella Lawson often talks about how things aren't hard but time consuming. On this one she would be exactly right. Also, I kind of have a crush on Nigella Lawson and refuse to watch The Taste and still think of her back on the original Nigella Bites. Digressing. All of these steps are pretty straight forward, especially if you have the basics for making a roux and sauces, super easy. Time consuming. Especially with a nearly 1 year old sous chef... she's 1 on Thursday and I'm still in denial (but birthday party items procured!).

Here's the sausage filling which is basically sausage gravy with Italian hot/sweet sausages. I used turkey with Parmesan cheese.

The pasta dough which is the second batch as the first version I tried by hand would've been a dried out mess. The kitchen aid, plus an added egg and an additional 1/2 cup of flour, had it into a ball of eggy goodness in no time. Best kitchen gadget ever. Totally worth the investment.

Basic tomato sauce (I used the immersion blender to make it pretty smooth). Large batch into the freezer for dinner next week. It's yummy and may replace all bottle sauces in the future.

Finished product. Yummy.

Sophy totally approved and ate nearly an entire portion herself. Her love of cheese is not surprising.