Please be alert woods and forests' inhabitants: gnomes, smurfs, elves, fairies... I'm a mushroom predator! Move from your houses and search for a comfortable corner somewhere else... It's time for mushrooms hunting!!!Not that I will be up at 5:00 o'clock on a Saturday morning and will put my boots on, scarf, gloves and basket, I'm not that kind anymore... but... all dishes containing mushrooms are eligible for this blog :D. Instead, you will see me hunting in Barcelona's Markets :D
When someone mentions pasta, immediately after one thinks of Italy! But, I'm sure that pasta is an adopted national dish everywhere in the world. One of my favourites are cannelloni and since I was a kid, this was the dish for celebrations... Christmas, Anniversaries, Family meetings... I still have the picture of my grandmother preparing the Christmas cannelloni at the kitchen. She would spend the whole morning there!
Pasta and mushrooms make one of the most delectable combos!
First you should only eat mushrooms that you know are not toxic, in case you doubt, don't eat! Go to specialized shops and buy them there, dehydrated ones are also a good option, but now that they can be found fresh, even better!For this dish, I used Fredolic Tricholoma terreum, Camagroc Cantharellus lutescens and Cep Boletus edulis.
Ingredients for 4 servings: 12-16 cannelloni pasta layers, 500 grs of varied mushrooms, 400 grs of fresh spinach or frozen, 100 grs of serrano ham or even better (Iberian acorn ham) cut in small dices, 1 garlic clove, 40 grs of flour, 4 dl of milk (2 glasses), 40 grs of butter, 50 grs of Parmesan cheese, salt, olive oil, black ground pepper, a pinch of nutmeg and parsley.
- Have a big pot with salty water and bring to a boil. Add the cannelloni layers and be careful they don't get adhered to the pot wall. Boil until pasta is done (check package instructions). When so, put the pot in the sink and add cold water inside until it's all cold. Proceeding this way you will make sure the layers don't break. Once cold use your hands to pick them and put over a clean white cotton kitchen cloth.
- Clean the mushrooms, dry them and cut in small pieces. Clean the parsley, dry and mince. Peel and cut the garlic.
- Prepare the bechamel with the following: butter, flour, milk, nutmeg, salt and 25 grs of Boletus edulis (clean, dry and minced). In a medium pot add the butter, when dissolved add the boletus and stir for 1 minute, take away from heat and add the flour, stir until you get a paste, put back to the heat and add the milk little by little while stirring all the time. When it first boils, stir for 30 more seconds, add the nutmeg and salt to fit your taste and reserve.
- Pour some olive oil in a sauce pan and saute the mushrooms during 10 minutes aprox. Add the ham and the garlic saute for 1 more minute. Reserve.
- Meanwhile clean and steam the spinach. Add to the mushrooms sauce pan and stir it all for a while so that all flavours mix. Add some of the bechamel and stir.
- Preheat oven at 200 ºC.
- Put the filling over the cannelloni layers and roll. Put in the oven tray side by side and pour the rest of the bechamel on top. Sprinkle with the cheese. Bake for 8 minutes at 180ºC and then place in the top rack and gratin until golden.
- You can also avoid the oven's gratin step and simply bake them for 8 minutes at 180ºC adding the bechamel on top of the cannelloni once outside the oven. Place some saute mushrooms over them to decorate the dish.
The delicious filling,
Before and after the oven.
I'm sending this recipe over to Ley from Cilantro and Lime and her first event: Baking for Breast Cancer Awareness, please pay her a visit and send her your dish... the more, the better :D.
One of the requisites Ley asks for is talking about a personal/family story and I will talk about my mom's braveness and courage!
When my mom was 42, one summer day she got the family together and told us that she was pregnant... it was a sweet and sour new for her since she just adores babies and kids but on the other hand she thought she was too old for going through another pregnancy. My brother and I were as happy as anyone could be... he was 11 and I was 13!
She had to do some rest during the first months but otherwise she felt quite good. The day arrived and Anna was born... the happy mom and baby were alright, everything went fine :D. But Anna didn't want her mami's milk and she started having baby's bottle.
A few months later, my mom went to the doctor because she felt something unusual in her breast. Went to hospital for surgery and while in the surgery room, my father had to take the horrible decision... the surgeon asked him to decide whet er to take the whole breast away or not... what it should have been a small incision of a non problematic tumour turned out to be something possibly dangerous.
Back to those days, there was no psychological treatment, just family love. My father decided to avoid possible risks. One of the toughest decisions of his life. My mom has only one breast, she is the strongest and more courageous woman on earth!!! Never had a nervous breakdown. Bravo for you mama♥♥♥
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