Cannelloni with Bechamel Sauce

This recipe is a summer meal for me once the garden comes in.  I use fresh oregano (and basil).  This goes well with sliced tomatoes and cucumber salad with mozzarella with fresh herbs and red wine vinegar.  If you don't want to  go to the trouble of making the bechamel sauce, just use half a jar of plain spaghetti sauce with fresh herbs added.  Yes, another recipe I wing.  I hate measuring.

1/2  package(19 ounce) Hot or Sweet JOHNSONVILLE® Italian Sausage Links (2 or 3 links)
1/2 lb. of ground round
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 ounces mushrooms, finely chopped
12 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
2 egg yolks
6 tablespoons butter 
6 tablespoons flour

3 cups milk (not skim)

12 Cannelloni pasta shells
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
1 teaspoon dried oregano


1.  Make the filling: In a large skillet over medium heat add olive oil, onion and mushroom cook for 5 minutes allowing the onion to soften and the mushrooms to release liquid.

2 .  Once most of the liquid has dissipated, add sausage and beef crumbling it with a wooden spoon into small pieces as it cooks. Stir and cook all ingredients until the onion is softened and the sausage is no longer pink and is starting to brown. Set aside.

3.  To make a béchamel sauce: Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and stir until well incorporated. Slowly, add milk and whisk together until smooth. Continue whisking until sauce comes to a slow boil and starts to thicken. Stir half this sauce into the sausage mixture. (Reserve the other half to pour on top of the cannelloni.) Add cubed mozzarella to the sausage and sauce mixture and continue stirring while slowly whisking in the egg yolks; mix to combine cover and set aside.

4.  Cook pasta according to package directions, rinse under cold water and reserve being careful to keep the pasta from breaking.

5.  Preheat oven to 400°F. Spread 3/4 cup of the reserved béchamel sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 inch oiled baking dish. Spoon filling into each pasta tube. Start from one end and using your finger to push the filling all the way through.

6.  Nestle the cannelloni in the sauce and cover with remaining béchamel sauce.

7.  Top with mozzarella and parmesan cheese and a sprinkling of oregano.

8.  Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes or until heated through; and cheese starts to turn golden. Remove from oven, let stand for 5 minutes then serve.

Crustacean-Inspired Garlic Roasted Sea Feast w/ Garlic Noodles

Crustacean is a landmark* San Francisco restaurant that remains well regarded** among locals and tourists alike.***

*     aka "overrated tourist trap"
**   aka  "rests on its previously well deserved reputation and currently provides crap food and service"
*** aka "people who have not yet figured out that there are many dupe recipes for the famous garlic noodles, or how
       easy it is to roast a crab at home or find it at another SF restaurant"

#Occupy Crustacean's Kitchen!

GARLIC NOODLES

20 oz Asian wheat noodles -- your choice of cut  [rice noodles will not work]

Garlic Sauce:

1 stick unsalted butter
2 heaping tablespoons minced garlic (more or less to taste)
1 tablespoon Maggi seasoning sauce, or soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce, or 1 shrimp boullion cube
1 tablespoon sugar or honey

cracked fresh pepper, to taste

Garnish:  chopped Vietnamese or regular coriander (cilantro);  grated parmesan  ["Gene-eeeeee!!!"]


Boil the noodles al dente; drain and set aside.

Prepare the garlic sauce using a saute pan on medium to low heat.  Melt butter; add the garlic and saute until aromatic but not browned.  Add all remaining seasonings to the pan, stir to combine well. Transfer the garlic sauce into a small bowl.  Add pasta to saute pan; quickly toss over medium heat, adding garlic sauce in increments until noodles fully coated and re-heated.  Transfer to bowl or individual plating; garnish.

GARLIC ROASTED SEA FEAST

[Serves 2]

1 Dungeness Crab (about 4 lbs), cleaned and cracked
2 lobster tails
1/2 lb. prawns
3/4 stick unsalted butter
6-8 cloves coarsely chopped garlic
2 teaspoons chicken or shrimp bouillon, powdered
2 teaspoons coarse cracked black pepper
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 bunch scallions, sliced to 1 inch pieces
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger

Garnish: whole flat leaf parsley shoots; lemon slices.


Clean all shellfish; crack the crab in half and partially crack the claws, reserve the shell; score cut the lobster tails down the soft middle.  Heat up the butter stove top in roasting skillet or pan; cast iron preferred.  Saute the garlic until aromatic, but not brown. Add in the black peppers, chicken or shrimp bouillon, pepper; then add in the seafood [crab, then lobster, then shrimp] and stir well until approx. 1/4 cooked.  Add in the sugar, ginger and scallions, then cook until half done.

Bake in the oven at 350 degree F until done to taste.  Serve on platter with garlic noodles and garnishes.