Brainless Canelons

Andrew: Mama, Zack and I are going to safeway…can we get you anything?
Me: Cow brains if they have it.
{silence}
Me: Ok, pork brains if they don’t have it. We have shopped all over today and can’t find either anywhere.
Andrew: okaaaay……..we will ask for you.

The Catalan recipe of Canelons is meat filled pasta rolled into a tube shape in a bechemel sauce.
It’s very filling, but very equisite and rich.

For years, with the recipe given to me, I thought one had to have cow brains (or pork would do) for a success.
In the past they were hard to find but not impossible.
This year proved impossible.

So, I decided to try yesterday, without them, as it’s one of Enric’s favorite dishes, and, it still tasted amazing.

So I share the recipe with you all.

Canelons (A la Mercé)

Soak canelon pasta in water or use manicotti shells and prepare as usual

Ingredients:

2 strips of bacon, cooked
3 pork chops, cooked
1 lb ground veal, cooked
1 container of beef brains, cooked
1 container of chicken liver, cooked
Cooked chicken or turkey (great to use up holiday leftovers)

When all the meat is cooked, grind together, put in a big bowl.
Add some onion flakes and pepper to the meat mixture
Next add some of the Bechemel de Canelons (below) to the bowl with meat.

Bechemel de Canelons

2 and 1/2 cups milk
2 t. chicken bouillon
1 t. onion flakes
2 T. cornstarch
2 T. butter
Pinch nutmeg
1/4 c. white cheese (like parmesean or mozarella)

Cook all in a pan to simmer.
Fill pasta tubes with meat mixture in a pan
Top with bechemel de Canelons sauce
Sprinkle with cheese and butter and put in a 350° broiler.

~~~

We had a delicious meal, then played 16 rounds of Scattergories.
Good fun with my sweet family!