CANNELLONI PASTRY SWIRLS

Now this is a hot dish which you can serve as a main course or as a wonderful antipasto or great party food...... its delicious.

The filling as any cannelloni type dish is essential and its components or better, the proper mixture of components will make it or break it.

YOU'LL NEED:

- 2 Pastry Puff sheets (You can make them yourself but I just feel that if you can buy them, you'll have more time to cook !
- 4 large red peppers
- 1 large sweet white onion
- Italian parsley (the flat stuff), about a bunch
- 14 artichoke hearts (you can buy whole artichokes and then clean them which i find very soothing to the nerves OR you can buy them frozen which are fine and will save you about 30 minutes of cleaning and steaming)
- 14 oz ricotta cheese (if not the good stuff, then fine but you will want to add an egg and a dash of salt to it.
- 2 eggs (one for the ricotta and one for your topping for brushing on the top of the canelloni prior putting to sleep in the oven !)
- Balsamic cream or vinegar
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts (roasted... do it yourself by heating on medium heat in a saucepan, dont burn these babbies!)
- Oregano
- 1/2 cup gorgonzola cheese
- 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese (grated)
- 1 t spoon salt, 1 t spoon black pepper
- 1 T spoon nutmeg
- Extra virgin olive oil

PREPARATION:

- First, take out a medium size saucepan, add about 2 T spoons of olive oil, smashed & cut garlic cloves. When garlic is golden, then add the chopped parsely and rosemary and then wait a couple of minutes then add in the artichoke hearts and cover on medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add the balsamic cream or vinegar, about 1/8 cup warm water and cover and stir often for about 15 minutes.
- While the artichokes are doing their thing, wash, clean and cut your peppers in slices, any size as well as the large white onion.
- Place the peppers, onion and rosemary in a medium mixing bowl, add about 2 T spoons of olive oil, 1 T balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and mix well with your clean hands.
- On a cookie sheet, add the pepper and onion mixture and bake for approx. 20 minutes on 375 F.
- While all this is going on (make sure you are mixing the artichokes as well as turning the peppers on the cookie sheet from time to time), in a small saucepan on medium/high heat add the walnuts and let them heat up for about 10 minutes BUT do not let them burn.
- You will probably want to take the artichokes off the heat at this time and let set. Now in another medium size bown, add the ricotta cheese, an egg, 1 t spoon salt and pepper and 1 T spoon of nutmeg and mix well. Then add in the gorgonzola and mozzarella cheese and mix well.
- I hope you have a food processor ! Add in the artichoke mixutre, peppers, the walnuts and use the pulsate option, you dont want a creamy mixture but you want to see the pieces! You may want to add a dash of olive oil to this.
- Add the above mixture to your cheese mixture and blend all together with your favorite wooden spoon.
- Now here comes the fun ! Your pastry sheets should be removed from your freezer about 30 minutes prior to this point (so i advise you do this when starting this dish), open them on a slightly floured wood surface (cutting board is fine) and roll out your sheet which will add about an inch to each side of the sheet.
- Approximately an 1.5 inches from the top edge of the pastry sheet, you will need to place your mixture (peppers, arthichoke, walnuts, cheese mixture) on the sheet, about 1/8 or less in thickness over the entire pastry sheet, leaving about an inch from the side edges and 2 inches from the bottom. You should have enough to cover 2 pastry sheets.
- Carefully roll the pastry sheets from the fartherest or top end, back down to you. With your butter/egg brush (I have my own brush that i use for only brushing butter or egg), you will need one egg for your wash and place it in a small bowl plus 1 t spoon water and brush the top side of your rolled cannelloni.(I advise that the seam be on the bottom side of your cannellone. With a very sharp knife, you will need to just cut into the cannelloni just enough to cut through the first layer of pastry dough, make about 8 diagonal slices so that when the dough starts to puff it will not only look good but it will be much easier to cut the swirls when cooled after the baking.
- Heat your oven to 375 F and place your newly born cannelloni pastry swirls on the parchment paper which just happens to be on your cookie sheets and bake for about 20-25 minutes.

You can prepare a similiar swirl with my salsa verde (spinach pesto sauce) which is absolutely scrumptious !

ENJOY !!!!