This recipe is made with one of my favourite ingredients – mushrooms. It’s a great recipe that can be made ahead and easily doubled up if you have more guests. Personally I also love the addition of tarragon but is an optional extra. Serve with a green salad and some grated parmesan cheese for a lovely heart-warming winter meal.
Serves 6
Ingredients
- 2 small onions chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic chopped
- 2 leeks chopped
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 750 g chestnut mushrooms sliced
- Tbsp chopped tarragon (optional)
- 20g grated cheddar cheese
- 250 g dried cannelloni tubes
Béchamel Sauce
- 50 g plain flour
- 50 g butter
- 750 ml semi-skimmed milk
- 80g grated cheddar cheese
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4 and grease a 25×30 cm dish
- Peel the onions and garlic and pulse until very fine in a food processor
- Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large heat proof casserole and tip in the onion and garlic – cook over a medium heat
- Trim, wash, pulse the leeks and add to the casserole
- Finally, chop the mushrooms (saving 3 for the top) pulse them and add to the pan
- Cook all ingredients over the medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring regularly, turn off the heat, add tarragon (if using) and season well
- Meanwhile, for the béchamel sauce, melt the butter in a pot over a medium heat. Stir in the flour until you have a smooth glossy paste. Cook for 2 minutes then gradually whisk in the milk. Simmer for 5 minutes, or until thickened, then add the grated cheese and season to taste
- Pour one third of the sauce into a 25cm x 30cm well-greased buttered casserole. As soon as the filling is cool enough to work with, fill the pasta tubes with the mushroom filling, lining them up in the tray as you go. Pour over the rest of the sauce, then finely slice the reserved mushrooms and use them to decorate the top. Scatter the remaining cheese on top and bake for 45 minutes, or until golden and cooked through – around 45 minutes
Karen’s tip – I actually made this in two batches as it does make quite alot
karenlovescooking.com 