I saw this wonderful, ooey, gooey, cheesy recipe on Pinterest and knew I had to make it. So I pinned it to my cooking board. Then when we were discussing our menu for Christmas Day (and my traditional beef roast was axed), I decided to make pasta and went straight to Pinterest.
The recipe for Baked Cannelloni is from Johnsonville (Who else besides me can't say that name without thinking of the old TV commercial where they call all the neighbors-- "Johnsonville braaaats"?). :) You can find the recipe at Johnsonville.com by clicking here.
I'll tell you right now that the recipe was delicious. But it was very time consuming. Probably one that I won't make again for that reason. Of course, part of the reason it felt so tiring was that it was Christmas Day, and I'd been up until 3:30 am getting ready. Then had cooked breakfast, gone to church, and then cooked lunch. So maybe I should give it another chance! If you don't mind all the steps, then be sure to try it. Everyone loved it.
You can find the list of ingredients at the original link. A couple of notes:
--I used 1 package sweet Italian sausage links.
--I could NOT find cannelloni pasta at Kroger or Publix so just bought large shell pasta (I was afraid manicotti tubes would break while stuffing them with meat).
--I only baked for 30 minutes and that was plenty.
--I only baked for 30 minutes and that was plenty.
I'll share my photos...
Cooking the vegetables.
The sausage before removing from the casings (Oops. I bought store brand without thinking about where the recipe came from!)
Making the béchamel sauce. Which is basically the white gravy that I make (with sausage) for our favorite breakfast food. :) For this recipe, you add cheese. :)
Adding the egg yolks.
The baking dish with some of the béchamel sauce for the first layer.
The shells stuffed with the meat, vegetable and sauce mixture.
And, no big surprise, with the craziness of Christmas Day dinner I forgot to take a photo before we nearly ate the whole pan of pasta! Here's the last little bit with the yummy browned cheese on top.
So, if you don't mind a recipe that takes a good while to prepare, you may want to give this one a try. Enjoy!
Oh, this looks delicious! I've been craving pasta. Probably to balance out all the turkey, hahaha.
ReplyDeleteHappy New year!
Happy new year to you, too, Virginia!
DeleteI made a huge lasagna for our family party/gathering and it was sooooo good!!!!
DeleteI love cheesy anything and I could easily substitute the sausage with more veggies. I usually use a prepared tomato sauce when I'm making pasta anything so trying out that white sauce would be a neat difference. And can I just say that I think you are terribly brave to try a new recipe for Christmas day??????? We had our usually standby -- tofu stirfry. :-) It wouldn't be Christmas without tofu. Bwahahahaha!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year, Missy.
Kav, I'm probably more crazy than brave. LOL But it was only our kids here, so it wasn't much pressure. :)
DeleteI think this would be good with a meat substitute and maybe a little tomato sauce. Go for it!
Chopped squash or eggplant? That would be wonderful!!!
DeleteI'm crazy about eggplant! I'll have to do that.
DeleteThis looks delicious! I love bechamel sauce on anything...
ReplyDeleteKav is right about adding veggies, even though I'd keep the sausage. :) I think some diced, sauteed zucchini would be good in this!
I'm keeping this recipe on hand, Missy. Pinning it to my Pinterest board now!
Jan, adding zucchini sounds like a great idea!
DeleteI have never thought of this and now I'm in love with the idea!!!
ReplyDeleteI bet you could do this with Alfredo sauce and chicken, too! WHY HAVEN'T I THOUGHT OF THIS?????
Missy, I'm so glad you shared this what a fun and fairly easy and great meal!!!
You can make it for a crowd, too, Ruthy (which we know you always have at your house!).
DeleteYum! My husband would LOVE ME (more than he already does) if he came home to this. I must be hungry, b/c I can nearly smell it, too.
ReplyDelete