domicile

7 Days of Zucchini. Day two: Zucchini & Ricotta Cannelloni

So there are two general approaches to zucchini cannelloni. One involves using actual thin sliced zucchini instead of noodles (a great gluten free choice, and totally possible with the large zucchini we've got hanging around as they'd make great wide "pasta" sheets). The other is to put zucchini *in* the cannelloni. I went for the latter.

I used this recipe as a guideline and used Heidi's recipe for tomato sauce from her Thousand Layer Lasagne as it is a great light, fresh sauce with a hint of lemon in it which I thought would go well with the lighter flavoured cannelloni filling. Like most of my baked pasta recipes I made a whole whack of this so that some portions could be frozen. I ended up with 12 individual cannelloni and divided that into 3 meals of 4 cannelloni each, to be served with a big fresh salad.

Homemade Zucchini & Ricotta Cannelloni
1 recipe of tomato sauce from here (or your personal fave)
1 package (1 lb) of fresh lasagne sheets
500g of ricotta
1 large zucchini grated, salted and drained
2 cloves of garlic
handful of chard leaves washed and chopped (I also have an abundance of these in my yard, not necessary but a nice addition)
one bunch of fresh basil sliced (reserve about 2 tbsp)
zest of half a lemon
olive oil to saute with
salt
pepper

breadcrumbs (1 cup)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 crushed clove of garlic
1/4 cup of pinenuts
reserved freshly chopped basil from above
salt
pepper

Make your tomato sauce, defrost some or use your favourite pre-made sauce. You'll need about 3 cups of it.

Heat the olive oil and saute your garlic with a pinch of salt. When it becomes aromatic add the grated zucchini and saute until it starts to soften. You don't want to over cook it as it will still bake for a while. Add the chard just before it is done and saute to wilt. Let cool a bit.

Empty your ricotta container into a bowl, add the sauted veggies, fresh basil (reserving a bit for a topping), lemon zest and a pinch of salt and a few good grinds of fresh pepper. Stir to combine.

Cut your lasagne sheets in half down the middle (not long ways but to make two smaller rectangles/almost squares out of the one long sheet). Take your baking pan (a lasagne pan works well or I used three smaller pyrex baking pans to freeze) and cover the bottom with sauce. Take a lasagne square and add filling along one side and roll into a tube shape. Place in the pan. Keep doing this until you're done. Add the remaining sauce on top to cover.

Mix the breadcrumbs, crushed garlic, salt, some pepper, pinenuts and the fresh basil with about 2 tbsp olive oil (more if necessary). Spread on top of your cannelloni pan.

Cover the pan with foil and bake at 350 for between 35-45 minutes. Remove the foil top and let the breadcrumbs brown for another 5-10 minutes (depending on how hot your oven is).

A week of cooking Zucchini. Day One: Chili

If you've got zucchini growing in your garden, know someone who does or have ever had a zucchini plant you will know that a time comes along every season where one feels a bit overwhelmed by the sheer volume of squash one is faced with consuming. We are at that point. Specifically we're at the point where we could pick a smallish zucchini every other day, and if we forget about them for more than 3 days in the backyard we suddenly have a baseball bat sized squash. (Though we consider ourselves not nearly as overwhelmed as friends who have 20 of these suckers).

Because we're trying to eat locally, and I hate to see food go to waste, I've given myself a challenge: cook with zucchini at least one meal a day all week this week. We'll see how we do. I'm doing a "feed two birds with one seed" thing here and also using this as a way to try to get back into blogging on this long dormant sucker. We'll see how it goes. Today's recipe:

Corn, Zucchini and Bean Veggie Chili
I've modified this recipe from the Moosewood Restaurant: Low Fat Faves cookbook over the years to make it my own.

1 large onion, diced
1 large clove of garlic minced (or 2 small ones)
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp corriander
2 tsp ancho chili powder (or chili powder of your choice)
1 tbsp chipotle chili puree (plus more to taste)*

2-3 diced peppers (red, green, yellow, up to you)
2-3 fresh cobs of corn/corn cut off
2-3 cans of beans drained and rinsed (I use a mix of black and pinto and decide how many cans to use based on how "beany" i want it, and how much chili I want to have
1 large zucchini diced (like a good 12-14" one) or 2 smaller ones
1 28oz can of diced tomatoes or approximately 3-4 cups of fresh tomatoes chopped

salt and pepper to taste
juice of two limes

Directions:
Take a large soup pot and add about 1/3 cup of water, bring to medium heat with the diced onions and garlic. Stir often and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the dried spices (cumin, corriander and chili powder) and cook for 1 more minute, stirring.

Add the peppers, zucchini, tomatoes and chipotle. Cook for about 5 minutes, still on medium heat. Add the beans (drained and rinsed). Let simmer for about 10 minutes, then add the corn along with the juice of two limes (I love adding lime juice to southwest/mexican spiced foods as I think it makes them zingy and fresh tasting, if you disagree, leave it out), also add a pinch of salt. Now you can basically let it cook as long as you like. Like a soup, the longer it cooks the more the flavours come together and it's great the next day. Taste it after the corn has been in there for 10 mins or so and see if you want to add more chipotle, depending on how spicy you like things I'd say up to 2 more tbsps. And add more salt if needed.

I serve this with some yogurt, sometimes grated cheese, freshly diced avocado, wedges of lime and fresh cilantro to garnish the top. But it doesn't really need any of that, it just makes it fancier.

Serve it with a big salad and homemade cornbread or warmed corn tortillas. This recipe has made enough for dinner for 6 adults and two lunches the next day.

Zucchini used up: 1 medium-large sized specimen. Could also use pattypan squash in there.

*About Chipotle Chili Paste: I got turned onto this stuff by the Rebar cookbook and L.O.V.E. love it. To make it, you buy a can of chipotle chilis in adobo sauce and stick the whole thing in a blender. Then I put it in a sterlized mason jar and keep in the fridge for 6-8 weeks. This is longer than is recommended, but I've never had a problem with it going moldy or off. There's a fair bit of sugar in there, so it preserves well.

Little Known Zucchini Fact:
Back in the old days of the internet when ecards were all the rage, there was actually an awesome ecard that just said "Happy leave a zucchini on your neighbour's porch season" with the illustration of a zucchini on a porch at night. Anyone else remember that? It cracked my then roommate and I up to no end, but we were raised around a lot of zucchini...