F rom Jamie At Home Season 2, “Summer Brassicas”. This recipe has been transcribed from the episode, and any gaps in the recipe on screen have been filled in… it’s delicious!
The Recipe
- 1 cauliflower
- 1 head of broccoli
- 7 cloves of garlic
- 1 small red chilli, de-seeded and chopped
- 0.5 green chilli, de-seeded and chopped
- 1 large bottle of passata
- bunch of lemon thyme
- 4 anchovy fillets
- 400ml creme fraiche
- 2 cups grated parmesan reggiano (approx 150 gms whole?)
- handful of mozzarella balls (optional)
- small bunch of basil leaves
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 large packet of canneloni tubes
1. Using a large knife, roughly chop up all the cauliflower and broccoli. Place into a large pot of boiling water for about 6 minutes, then remove and drain.
2. Peel and chop the garlic. Put a “good lug” of extra virgin olive oil into a large pan and saute garlic over medium-high heat for several minutes, stirring frequently. Add the leaves from the lemon thyme to the garlic and stir. Add the chopped chilli and roughly chopped anchovy fillets and stir further.
3. Add the drained vegetables to the saute pan and stir well. Put the lid on and cook on medium-high heat for approx. 10-20 minutes, or until the vegetables have cooked down into a soft mix. Remove from heat, and if possible spread out on a tray to cool down more quickly.
4. To make the white sauce, mix the grated parmesan into the creme fraiche with a wooden spoon. Mix well, and add black pepper and more parmesan to taste. Set aside.
5. To make the tomato base, combine the passata and red wine vinegar with some salt. Test for seasoning.
6. To assemble the dish, select a large square ceramic or glass baking dish with high sides. Pour the tomato base into the dish to a depth of about half a centimetre. Fill a piping bag with the cooled vegetable mixture and carefully fill the canneloni tubes one by one. After filling each tube place it in the tomato base, repeat until the tray is full of filled tubes. Ensure there is a single layer of tubes only and that the tomato base covers them as much as possible.
7. Place a loose layer of basil leaves over the tubes. Then carefully spoon the white sauce over the whole dish, forming a complete white top. Sprinkle with black pepper, then cover with more grated parmesan. OPTIONAL: break up small mozzarella balls and dot the pieces around the white sauce.
8. Cook in a 190 degree oven for about 30 minutes, or until bubbly madly below and golden crispy on top. Serve quickly with a simple rocket salad to cut through the richness.
Variations
The simple tomato sauce detailed above tastes very raw and “tomato-y” when freshly cooked. It overpowers and dominates the other flavours. Note however that if eaten the day after, the flavours will have integrated much more and it tastes considerably better.
A variation is to make a roasted tomato sauce from scratch. Take about 1.5 kg of fresh tomatoes, slice them in half horizontally (ie. through the middle of the tomato, not the stalky ends) and place them cut side up in a roasting dish. drizzle some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and another vinegar (sherry if you’ve got it) over the tomatoes, sprinkle liberally with sea salt and roast in the oven for 40-50 minutes at 180 degrees. Take out of the oven and let cool. Once cooled down, remove the skins and discard. Push the remaining tomato pulp through a coarse sieve, then use the resulting juices as the passata in the main recipe above. This adds a whole new character to the dish and is much better overall. Consider also pumping up the flavour in the vegetable filling to cope, eg. adding fetta cheese or goat’s cheese to the mix?
