Homemade cannelloni "shells"

 

So, as many of you have realized. I'm FRUGAL, in the sense that, I'll make something from scratch, even if it takes a bit of work, to make it happen before I'll spend the extra penny. Literally. I do a lot of baking, so I'm always buying flour, and quite honestly I go through about five pounds of flour per week (holy carb central). This is because I can buy one five pound bag of flour for 2.25 (after coupons) and make about 6 loaves of bread from it... One loaf costs nearly $3 here in Italy. So, I go cheap and bake it myself.

I got a lump of fresh cow's milk ricotta at an organic farmer's market they hold annually for THE CHEAP. I'm talking, €2 for just blissfully indulgent fresh ricotta. I don't want to drop $5 for the tub stuff here at the commissary. Well, I love ricotta in so many dishes, but my favorite is manicotti. But alas, then I'd have to pay for pasta tubes.

Well, obviously I decided to look up all these recipes from all these Nonnas (Italian grandmothers) who do it from scratch. I decided I could do it too. Simple enough, in my opinion. Some may say that they aren't really "pasta", they're bread. But what is pasta made out of? Flour. As are these. And let me tell you, they're way easier to stuff because you roll them. They're also more tender and you can add fresh herbs to the batter if you're so inclined.

Ingredients:

4 eggs

3 cups water

3 cups flour

3 tsp salt 

Chopped fresh herbs (optional) 

I whisked these ingredients (minus the herbs) together like my life depended on it to keep it from lumping. Take the easy way out and just throw it in your blender. Easy peasy. 

Next we cook! They're essentially like making crêpes but slightly thicker.

Now heat a small skillet on low. Do a light spritz of non stick cooking spray (I didn't use any, I have a nonstick Rachael Ray set that MEANS nonstick. Thanks Rachael. I love you.). Add about 1/4 cup of the mixture to the center of the pan and quickly rotate it (off the flame) to cover the bottom. Cook about one minute until top looks dry and flip. Cook an additional thirty seconds and remove from pan. 

You'll start to notice the edges will separate from the pan when it is time to flip so feel it out.

Repeat for the rest of your batter. Yield: 24-30 "shells". 

When you're done, place your fillings down the center, roll, and put in your dish seam down to bake. You can make them a day ahead, just cover and refrigerate, or they can be frozen, simply divide each shell with wax paper and freeze. 

Frittata

A frittata is simply a backward omelette. Instead of cooking the egg, loading it, and folding over, you cook your add-ons, pour the egg over, & bake. 

You can make veggie frittata, meat, cheese, etc. I did veggie this morning to use the produce I have in my fridge so it doesn't go bad (waste not, want not).

You will need:

4 eggs

1/2 cup milk

Oven safe sautée pan

Diced veggies/meats/cheese (or all of them!)

I sautéed my onion in about 1 TBSP of butter for two minutes. Added my diced onion & finely chopped celery. Sautéed until the onion was translucent. Added fresh oregano leaves, parsley, salt, pepper, garlic powder. Remove from heat, top with sliced mushrooms. Whisk together eggs and milk, pour over veggies. Sprinkle in one clove minced garlic & feta cheese.

Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes until egg is cooked through.