Today for lunch, my sister and I did something we don't do very often. We went to an Italian restaurant. Italian just isn't one of my favorite cuisines. After a minute of looking at the menu, she asked me what cannelloni was, at which point I realized I had no idea. Imagine my surprise when I got home and found this post from Baker's Banter. It's a how-to on Sara Moulton's (Sara's Secrets) version of cannelloni, which uses crepes rather than pasta sheets. It looks incredibly delicious, and would probably make a great, easy, special dinner.
According to this article in Wikipedia, cannelloni can be made with either pasta sheets or crepes and still be considered correct. It was really interesting to learn about this dish, especially since it found me rather than the other way around. It occurred to me that cannelloni is similar to baked enchiladas. Now I'm curious if there are similar recipes from other cuisines. What do you think?
Second Helping of Slashfood - June 19
Competitive-Eating Contest to Pit Humans Against Elephants
The Backyard Boom - The Hungry Bride
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-19-2008 @ 10:19AM
Daniel said...
@KF
I know exactly what you mean! Now I want some Speghetti Squash....thanks a lot!
On a side note: am I the only one who gets redirected to the main page if I hit the "reply" button?
Reply
8-19-2008 @ 1:31PM
dan said...
I JUST made some cannelloni the other day, i called them manicotti growing up though. i guess the difference is that cannelloni is wrapped while manicotti is traditionally pre made rings... anyways check it out if you like. http://www.thefoodinmybeard.com/2008/08/15/Manicotti.aspx
Reply
8-19-2008 @ 3:40PM
KF said...
Oh absolutely. Most cuisines have some cross-over effect with basic, traditional fare. You could debate how far each cuisine takes it -- away from the basic components (e.g., substituting a vegetable for the pasta). If you don't mean literally or only a crepe stuffed with something savory and then baked in a pan under a sauce, you can see similarities in many cuisines. For instance, I could think of cannolli as the Italian version of Mexican enchiladas; Asian egg rolls with a tomatey sweet and sour dipping sauce, or any number of dim sum, wrapped meats in dumpling pastry with dipping sauce; German or Polish stuffed cabbage leaves in a tomato sauce; of many cuisines which stuff peppers and then serve in a sauce; Stuffed and rolled French crepes, both sweet and savory; certainly any number of Indian dishes, such as stuffed Naan, dipped or baked ... I'm making myself hungry.
Reply
8-20-2008 @ 3:30AM
KF said...
Danile, no, you're not the only one. I gave up hitting "reply" long ago -- has never worked for me, unless it's meant to irritate, and if so, then it works just fine.
Reply
8-20-2008 @ 2:16PM
Hoss said...
"...she asked me what cannelloni was, at which point I realized I had no idea."
Sigh. You write for a food blog, but have never heard of a basic Italian dish? Really? REALLY?
Reply