Cold Cannelloni Stuffed with Goat Cheese

Some time ago, I saw in one of the French magazines a recipe for cold cheese-stuffed cannelloni. They were to be served more as a starter rather than a main dish. The whole thing looked very interesting and I always wanted to try this recipe one day.

This past Saturday I was invited for a lunch at our neighbors' place, later my son had a party for his basketball team, and just right after that we were having friends over for dinner. A very busy day and not much time for cooking, so I decided to prepare at least one dish that could be made ahead and served without any last-minute preparation. These cannelloni seemed a perfect idea, as something easy, yet original.

To make them, I used fresh lasagna sheets that my Giant recently started to carry. That was the most challenging part as the sheets should be soft but still keep their shape. For that reason you need to use a large pot to cook the pasta sheets in a large amount of water. If fresh lasagna pastry is not available in your shopping area, I believe that it can be made from the Barilla pasta sheets. Cooked sheets are cooled and stuffed with goat cheese, drizzled with walnut oil and balsamic vinegar, and served with baby lettuce leaves.

It was my kind of dish. I loved it! Simple but well defined thanks to the goat cheese, walnuts, and vinegar. Because of its true simplicity to make this dish right it is important to use best quality ingredients--aged balsamic glaze (or vinegar) of Modena and roasted walnut oil.

I think that no one, especially those who like me love all kind of pasta and Italian cuisine, would resist these cold cannelloni.

Cold Goat Cheese-Stuffed Cannelloni
(Serves six)

Ingredients:
12 lasagna sheets, about 2 inches by 4 inches in size,
6 oz goat cheese at room temperature,
1 shallot, very finely chopped,
1/4 cup roasted walnuts, crushed,
12 tsp aged balsamic vinegar of Modena (about one tsp per serving) or if you have available the glaze made with the vinegar of Modena,
12 tsp roasted walnut oil,
freshly coarsely ground black pepper,
3 cups of baby lettuce

Preparation:
1. In a large pot boil water with one tbsp of salt. Put in pasta sheets and cook them making sure that they do not stick to one another. That will take probably about 5 minutes--pasta should be soft but in perfect shape. Drain the cooked pasta sheets and rinse them with cold water. Spread each piece on a large plate to dry.
2. In a medium bowl place the soft goat cheese. Add chopped shallots and using a fork mix it together to create a soft spread.
3. Divide the cheese equally among the cooked sheets, spread it thinly on them and roll them up.

4. On individual plates put a handful of baby lettuce leaves and two cannelloni. Drizzle each portion with balsamic vinegar and walnut oil. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts and finish with ground pepper.

Cannelloni taste best in room temperature, so if you prepared them earlier, take them out of the refrigerator two hours prior to serving and add the lettuce at the last moment.

Fideos with Pablano Green Sauce--Pasta Mexican Style

Living in the US, the best way to discover Latin American cuisine is by going to Mexican restaurants, which are not only very popular here but also often very good and inexpensive. I like sometimes to have in my repertoire one or two original dishes that I can cook whenever I crave for such a taste.

In the Mexican restaurants I went to, I have never seen or maybe just never noticed, any dish based on fideos--Spanish and Mexican cuisine noodles. Since I am a pasta person, they always intrigued me when I saw them at my food store. Finally, not so long ago, I bought them for the first time. When I got home I started looking for the recipes. The most popular, repeated several times with few modifications, was a dish with fideos, tomatoes, and shredded pork. But I am not so much into the Latin cuisine reds. Rather, I am attracted to its greens--tomatillos, pablano pepper, avocado, limes, cilantro, or jalapeno chili. For that reason, I decided to make a green sauce for fideos, remembering it vaguely from a recipe for enchiladas that I cooked once a long time ago.

I prepared a sauce from roasted pablano peppers, tomatillos, and cilantro, to which I added ground pork. I baked the whole dish, topped with sour cream and cheese, in an oven. All the flavors-- aromatic pablanos, cilantro, and tangy tomatillos blended nicely with the mild noodles and the creamy cheese topping. Although the dish may seem quite complicated, in reality, it is rather simple to make and very rich and rewarding in the end. I added meat to the sauce but I suppose that even without this addition this dish would be great thanks to the variety of herbs and vegetables used in it and it would also be very filling especially with the cream and cheese sauce.

Fideos with Pablano Green Sauce
(Serves six)

Ingredients:
1 bag (12 oz) fideo noodles,
1 lb ground pork or chicken,
5 garlic cloves,
1 large (26 oz) can tomatillos,
1 bunch fresh coriander, chopped,
3 pablano peppers,
1 jalapeno chili (optional, if you like it spicy)
1 tsp ground cumin,
1 tsp salt,
1 cup sour cream,
2 cups Mexican cheese blend,
4 tbsp vegetable oil for frying.

Preparation:
1. Put the whole pablanos under the hot broil and grill them until their skin becomes black. Remove from the oven and put them in a paper bag and close it. Let them stay in the bag for 20-30 minutes. After that time peel them, remove the seeds, and cut into strips.
2. Heat two tbsp of oil and fry fideos until slightly brown. Remove from the pan.

3. In the same frying pan heat one tbsp of oil, when hot add pork, season with salt, and fry until meat becomes light brown. Set aside.
4. Put tomatillos, garlic, cumin, coriander, and jalapegnos in a blender and have it work until all the ingredients are finely chopped.
5. Heat the remaining 2 tbsp of oil in a large casserole and add the tomatillo mixture to it. Simmer for about 10 minutes, until it becomes thicker.
6. Transfer cooked meat and the pablanos to the tomatillo sauce, add fideos, and mix all the ingredients.
7. Preheat oven to 400 F.
8. Transfer the whole fideos mixture to the large oven proof dish. Spread cream on top and sprinkle with cheese. Cover with the aluminum foil and bake for 30-35 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 5 minutes.