Homemade Gyro with Tzatziki

Gyro Salad

I've lived mostly without gyros for the last 12 years in California.  In Chicago, there's a gyro joint on every corner.  In Humboldt County, there's one place and it's in the next town over.  It's the reason I wanted to figure out how to make falafel, which is one of my most favourite recipes... but these gyros are definitely going to rival the falafel. 

Now gyros are traditionally made with beef and lamb, but we don't eat a ton of beef and I'm not a huge fan of lamb, so my initial gyro recipe I thought I'd try going outside that box and used pork and turkey.  They were freaking amazing!!!  Thinking that beef and lamb must be better, I took my exact recipe and followed it again with the beef and lamb.  It was okay... but I gotta tell ya, I hands-down preferred the pork and turkey mix. 

Don't want the carbs you get with pita bread?  Gyro salads are also soooo delicious!

Listening to some No Motiv - "So What"... song is super catchy and keeps repeating in my head.  -jen

HOMEMADE GYRO WITH TZATZIKI
Time: 10 minutes to prep, 1 hour to rest, 1 hour to bake, couple hours to cool 
Difficulty:  Medium
Makes:  A lot
Equipment:  Food Processor

Gyro Loaf Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
• 1.5 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 
• 1 medium onion, chopped large
• 4 medium garlic cloves
• 1 pound ground pork, lean
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 4oz pancetta (cubed if you can find it)*
• olive oil 
• tomatoes, onion, cabbage or lettuce, cucumber, pita bread to make sandwich 

Tzatziki (Cucumber Yogurt Sauce) Ingredients:

• 1/2 a cucumber 
• 1/4 teaspoon + 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• juice of 1/2 lemon (about 1 tablespoon)
• 1 tablespoon fresh dill (or 1 tsp dried)
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• pinch of cumin (optional)

*I used bacon the second time I tried the recipe, and it made everything taste smoked, not like gyro, so I would not substitute bacon.  You can use sliced pancetta if that's all you can find, it's just going to get ground up anyway.

Slushed garlic and onion

Gyro Loaf:
In a small bowl combine salt, oregano, thyme, rosemary, cumin and black pepper.  Set aside.  In the food processor add the chopped onion and garlic.  Process until slushy.  My food processor wouldn't process the two pounds of meat at once, so I added one of the meats to the onion and garlic, half of the salt and herb mix and processed until a paste.  Remove and set in large mixing bowl.  Then add the second pound of meat, the pancetta and remaining salt and herb mix to the food processor, process until a paste.  Combine both batches in the mixing bowl and with your hands, mix until both meats are thoroughly blended.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.  (Great time to start making the tzatziki and getting your cucumbers draining!)

Preheat oven to 325 Farenheit.  Line a baking sheet with foil and brush with a light coating of olive oil.  Form meat into a loaf shape that's about 2" thick in center of foil - try to keep it uniformly thick so it cooks evenly.  Make sure you've packed it firmly to eliminate holes when slicing.  Bake for about 45-50 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F.  (A meat thermometer is a fantastic cooking tool!)

Remove loaf and let rest at least 20 minutes before slicing.  Cut into thin, almost shaved slices.  (If you can bare the wait, we recommend cooling the loaf completely, then refrigerating for a few hours.  It helps in cutting the slices super thin.)  Brown slices on both sides in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Only takes a minute or two.  Serve on a warmed pita with lettuce or cabbage, cucumber, tomato, onion and tzatziki! 

Tzatziki (Cucumber Yogurt Sauce):
If using an English/seedless cucumber, leave skin on.  If it's a regular, waxed cucumber, peel to remove waxy skin.  Cut in half and reserve one half to slice or dice onto gyro.  Cut the other half lengthwise and using a spoon, scoop out the seeds and discard - you still need to do this if you're using a "seedless" cucumber, that's where a lot of the liquid is.  Grate both deseeded cucumber quarters and set in a strainer over a bowl that will catch the liquid.  Toss grated cucumber with 1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt.  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to let the liquid drain out.

In a small mixing bowl, combine Greek yogurt, mayonnaise, lemon juice, fresh dill, garlic, olive oil, black pepper, cumin (optional), the drained cucumber (squeeze out remaining juice and discard) and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt.

Not only great on gyros but great in salads or as a dip for fresh or roasted vegetables, great with grilled meats.

Warm Chorizo and Cabbage Salad

I was at the laundromat with Justin when I came up with this idea.  I'm not sure where it came from... I knew we had a pound of chorizo in the freezer and I think I was just trying to come up with some sort of "different" salad idea.

It came out really tasty!  I'd describe it as a Mexican-style mushu... or a warm slaw?  One of Justin's coworkers had gifted us with a huge zucchini, so I just scooped that out (I actually sauteed the scooped zucchini filling with my onion and poblano), rubbed some olive oil on the inside and outside, seasoned with salt and pepper and baked in a preheated 425 oven for about 17 minutes, until tender.  Then stuffed it with the chorizo and cabbage salad.  Very good!  But the next day, I just ate it in a bowl by itself like a salad.

I don't think we've used any Good Riddance with our recipes yet - "There's No 'I' In Team".  -jen

WARM CHORIZO AND CABBAGE SALAD
Time:  about 30 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy
Makes:   about 8 cups

• 1/2 pound chorizo sausage (the meaty kind, not the melty kind)
• 3/4 cup onion, julienned
• 1/2 cup poblano pepper, julienned
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 3/4 cup white wine
• 3/4 cup Restaurant Style Salsa
• 3 cups cabbage, shredded
• 1/2 cup carrots, shredded
• 8oz (half a 14oz can) corn, drained
• 8oz (half a 14oz can) garbanzo beans, drained
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 cup green onion, diced
• salt and pepper to taste

In a large skillet, brown chorizo until cooked through.  Remove with a slotted spoon, place in a large bowl and set aside.  Using 2 tablespoons of the sausage grease, saute onion, poblano and oregano until softened and onion is translucent.  Remove with slotted spoon and set aside in same bowl as sausage.

Delicious brown bits!

While pan is still hot, add white wine and salsa, scraping up the browned bits from the pan.  Bring to a boil and then simmer for 5-7 minutes, until reduced to half.  Add cabbage, carrots, corn and beans, stirring to coat with sauce.  Cook for just a few minutes so that cabbage is still crunchy and not cooked all the way through.  Toss with cilantro and green onion.  Add a little salt and pepper if necessary.

Can be served as just a salad.  Can be put into zucchini boats (I halved my large zucchini, scooped it out, salt, pepper and olive oil on inside and baked for 15-20 minutes at 425 on a greased cookie sheet until tender), then stuffed with cabbage salad.  Could be rolled into a burrito, served as a taco, rolled in an egg roll wrapper and fried.  Served with rice or pasta.  Whatever!

Zuppa Bianca (Italian White Soup)

From what I've read, traditionally a zuppa bianca is creamy from the white beans in it, often part of them being blended to thicken the soup.  I didn't want to use that many beans in mine, so I thought I'd try my own spin on the soup and it came out fantastic!
I started with homemade stock that Justin had made the day before.

I'll remind you again - SAVE ALL YOUR VEGGIE ENDS AND BONES!  Every time we cut off broccoli stems, carrot ends, onion ends, herb stems, and leftover bones we throw them into a Ziplock bag and stick 'em in the freezer.  Sooner or later you've got a full bag and you can put it all in a stock pot, add water, and make your own stock!  It's so easy, you're using every bit of the vegetable, and it's worth it to make homemade stock!

I also wanted to add anchovy, pepper, fennel and mushrooms to my zuppa bianca... also not traditional as far as I can tell, but man, they were a killer, tasty addition!  Served it up with some crusty bread and that was all you needed!  It might have been good with a little fresh Parmesan grated onto it, but we didn't have any.

This recipe makes a huge batch... you could probably half the recipe and it'd be fine, but being that I made it in a huge batch, that's the quantities I'm throwing at you.  I say make a huge batch and you can freeze the leftovers to pull out later when you don't feel like cooking.  That's what we do.

I love punk rock.  But there's a lot of old music that I really love too - I think I can sing more songs from the 60s than most people who lived through the 60s... though drugs might have something to do with that for a lot of folks.  So when punk bands cover songs from the 60s, it's no surprise that I usually love them.  (I never even stood a chance with the Gimmes.)  So let's listen to the Adolescents covering Eric Burdon and The Animals' "House of the Rising Sun"... the only song I was ever able to play on the organ, but probably can't now.  Plus... how many punk songs can you name with a harmonica solo?  -jen

ZUPPA BIANCA
Time:  about 1 hour
Difficulty:  Easy
Makes: 

• 1 pound ground spicy Italian sausage
  
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 anchovies packed in oil
• 1 cup diced celery (about 2 large stalks)
• 1 cup diced carrots (about 2 medium
• 1 cup diced fennel bulb (about 1 medium), reserve 1/4 cup of the fronds, chopped
• 1 cup diced green bell pepper (about 1 large)
• 2.5 cups diced onions (about 1 large)
• 3 cups diced crimini mushrooms
• 1.5 tablespoons minced garlic (about 5 medium cloves)
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  
• 1 teaspoon white pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt plus extra
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 3 quarts chicken stock
• 2 cups 1/2" cubed potatoes (about 1 large potato), skin on
• 1 can (14oz) white beans, reserve liquid
• 3 cups chopped kale (remember to remove stems)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 3/4 cup chopped basil
• 1/3 cup chopped parsley
• lemon wedges

In a large stock pot over medium-high heat, brown the Italian sausage.  Remove sausage and set aside.  Leave 2 tablespoons of the sausage fat in the pot, discard the rest.  (That was all I actually got out of my sausage, but some sausage is fattier than others.)  Add olive oil and the anchovies to the sausage fat in the pot and cook 1 minute.  Add celery, carrots, fennel bulb, bell pepper, onions, mushrooms, garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes, white pepper and 1 teaspoon salt.  Cook, stirring intermittently, until vegetables begin to soften and onions are just turning translucent.  Add white wine and cook another 2-3 minutes.  Add chicken stock, potatoes and the liquid from the beans (don't add the beans yet).  Turn heat to high and bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer.  Simmer until potatoes are tender, about 10-12 minutes (fish one out and test it).  Once potatoes are tender, add cooked sausage, beans, kale, heavy cream, basil, parley and the reserved chopped fennel fronds.  Taste the soup and add salt or pepper if necessary.  Serve each bowl with a wedge of lemon to squeeze onto the soup.

Chorizo and Jalapeño Deviled Eggs

These Chorizo and Jalapeño Deviled Eggs came out so freaking good!  Generally, I'm not even a hard boiled egg fan, but I really wanted to dye eggs during the Giant Purple Bunny holiday, and since I don't have kids I can use an excuse, I had to use cooking as my excuse.  We'd had a lot of Mexican food on the menu, so I was in that mindset and I really thought that chorizo and jalapeño deviled eggs was a completely original idea... but it wasn't.  I see there are other recipes out there.  However, I didn't even look at them because I didn't want my idea to be tainted by what they did!  (Mmm, tainted eggs.)  And in the end, these eggs were fantastic!!!  I just ate a leftover one this morning while typing up this recipe and they're one of those foods that's even better the next day.

I'd just like to note that I had to go to four different stores on Easter Sunday in order to find an egg dying kit.  Either the people were there at 7:00am to wipe out the store for candy, or the stores had already wiped out their own holiday displays to make way for summer barbecue crap!  We put some time, energy and gasoline into these eggs, man!

I heard the holiday was about dead people rising, so Strung Out's "Exhumation of Virginia Madison" seemed to fit the bill for tunes!  -jen

CHORIZO AND JALAPEÑO DEVILED EGGS
Time:  20-25 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy
Makes:  12 deviled eggs

• 6 hard boiled eggs (see how-to below)
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon sour cream (optional)
• 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon lime juice
• 1/4 cup cooked Spanish-style (chunky) chorizo, minced
• 2 tablespoons green onion, minced
• 2 tablespoons pickled jalapeños, minced
• 2 tablespoons cilantro, minced
• salt and pepper to taste

Peel eggs and slice in half length-wise.  Gently scoop out the yolks and place into a small bowl.  Use a fork to break apart the cooked yolks and mash them.  Add mayonnaise, sour cream, yellow mustard and lime juice - mix until smooth and combined.  Stir in chorizo, green onion, jalapeño, and cilantro.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  (Some chorizo is more salty than others, that's why you have to taste it before you add salt!)

Evenly distribute the filling back into the egg whites using a spoon or piping bag.  (I just used a quart-size zip bag like a piping bag, cutting off the corner.)  Serve immediately or keep refrigerated.

How to Hard Boil Eggs:
Place eggs in single layer in a sauce pan or stock pot.  Cover with 1" of cold water.  Bring to a boil.  Then cover and remove from heat and set aside for 8 minutes.  Drain and cool in very cold water/ice water.  Hard boiled eggs can last for a week refrigerated if their peel is left on. 

Wild Rice and Sausage Stuffed Pumpkin

Stuffed pumpkins rock!  I'm definitely one of those annoying people that look forward to everything-pumpkin in the fall.  I'd never stuffed a pumpkin until a few years ago and it's become one of my most favourite autumn dishes.

We have a recipe for a sweet Apple and Oats Stuffed Pumpkin, but we also enjoy doing savoury stuffed pumpkins, so I thought it was time to get a recipe up!  This stuffed pumpkin was so delicious.  While I chose wild rice and sausage, you can really put anything you like in one!  Change up the meat and use chicken or shredded beef.  Change up the grain and use barley or white rice.  Add nuts - try dried apricots instead of cranberries.  Try a theme - Mexican, Italian, Moroccan, Chinese...

How about The Hollowpoints - The Sickness.  -jen

WILD RICE AND SAUSAGE STUFFED PUMPKIN
Prep Time:  30 minutes
Bake Time:  60 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy to Medium
Serves:  about 6

• 1 pie pumpkin (like a Sugar Pumpkin or a Winter Luxury)
• 5 links maple sausage 
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil + 2 teaspoons, melted
• 1 small carrot, diced (about 1/2 cup)
• 1/2 medium onion, diced (about 3/4 cups)
• 1 large stalks of celery, diced (about 1/4 cup)
• 1 small green pepper or poblano, diced (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 apple, diced (like a Gala or Fuji) (about 1 cup)
• 1 tablespoon ginger, minced (1 tbsp)
• 2 large cloves of garlic, minced (1 tbsp)
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup (brown sugar would be a suitable substitute) + 1 teaspoon
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 teaspoon salt  + 1/4 teaspoon
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper + a pinch
• 1/2 teaspoon curry powder + 1/4 teaspoon
• 1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage + 1/4 teaspoon
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon marjoram
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1-2 cups cooked wild rice (recipe below)  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  

Like carving a jack-o-lantern, cut the top of your pumpkin off and scoop the inside and the base of the lid clean.  (Save your seeds and make Seasoned Pumpkin Seeds!)   Discard the insides, keep your lid!  Make sure you get all those stringy pieces out... it's worth the extra effort to make it totally scraped clean.  Set aside.

In a large skillet over medium heat, cook sausages through.  Set aside.  In same skillet with the remaining sausage fat, add 1 tablespoon of coconut oil and the carrots, cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Then add the onion, celery, and green pepper.  Saute about 5 minutes, until vegetables become tender.  Add the apples, garlic, ginger, maple syrup, cranberries, salt, pepper, curry powder, sage, cinnamon, marjoram, and red pepper flake.  Cook another 2-3 minutes, then remove from heat and let cool.

Once cool, dice the sausages and add the sausage and the rice to the vegetable mixture.  Add 2 teaspoons of melted coconut oil, 1 tsp maple syrup, 1/4 tsp salt, pinch of pepper, 1/4 tsp curry powder and 1/4 tsp of sage to the inside of the pumpkin, .  Using your hands, massage oil and seasonings all over the inside of the pumpkin, as well as on the bottom of the lid. 

Stuff the pumpkin completely full with the stuffing.  Place the lid back on the pumpkin and place on a sheet
pan.  Cook at 350 degrees F for about 1 hour.  A sharp knife should slide easily through the skin and the flesh if the pumpkin is cooked thoroughly.  Remove and let rest for 5 minutes.

Place on a serving tray.  Remove lid.  Slice wedges and serve.  Don't forget to slice the pumpkin meat off of the lid, too!

If you have leftover stuffing you can serve it on the table with your stuffed pumpkin for folks who want extra.  You can make an egg scramble out of it (which we did!) or use it as a side dish for your dinner the next evening.

WILD RICE
Cook Time:  45-60 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy
Makes:  about 2 cups

• 1/2 cup wild rice
• 2 cups chicken broth (or water)
• 1 teaspoon rubbed sage (optional)

In a large sauce pan, combine rice, broth and sage.  Bring to a boil.  Cover and reduce heat to a simmer.  Simmer for 45 minutes and check.  You'll want about half of the kernels to split open (they'll look lighter in colour)... could take up to 60 minutes.  If there's any remaining liquid, drain it off.  Fluff with a fork.

Note:  Wild rice will triple or quadruple once cooked.  1 cup may yield 3.5 - 4 cups.

Italian Sausage & Lentil Soup

The lentil soup was really new for me.  I'm sure I'd had lentils in soup before, but I have no immediate memory of it.  I know we didn't grow up eating lentils.  Believe it or not, we DO try to eat healthy at home most the time.  And in an effort to better our carb intake (which means cut out the bad carbs and add in the good ones that are low on the glycemic index - ooh, science!), we picked up some green lentils.  They sat in our pantry for a couple of months before I pulled them out and just decided to throw together a random soup... which was deliciously successful.  I'm not even sure it's fair to call this a "soup".  I wanted something a little thicker and hardier, so I suppose it's almost stew-like.  Whatever it is, it's good.  And that's what counts.

We rocked out with our friend Betsy's excellent Boston choice - The Unseen, singing "False Hope".  -jen

ITALIAN SAUSAGE & LENTIL SOUP

• 1 pound Italian sausage (I used 1/2 mild, 1/2 hot)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4 ribs celery, chopped
• 3 large carrots, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 2 Anaheim peppers, chopped
• 1 jalapeño, chopped
• 5 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
• 1.5 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 can (14.5oz) peeled tomatoes
• 8 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups lentils
• 1/4 cup sherry
• dash of hot sauce
• dash of Worcestershire
• salt and pepper to taste

In a stock pot over medium-high heat, brown sausage.  When nearly cooked through, add 2 tablespoons of butter.  Then add onion, celery, carrots, bell pepper, Anaheim peppers, and jalapeño.  Cook until onions are just becoming translucent.  Add garlic basil, thyme and rosemary, cooking for another 2 minutes.  Sprinkle flour over vegetable and sausage mixture, stirring to mix in and cook 5 more minutes.  Then add tomatoes, chicken broth, lentils, sherry, hot sauce and Worcestershire.  Bring to a boil, then turn down heat and simmer for 30 minutes until lentils are tender.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Served here with kale chips!

Sausage Gravy

Biscuits and gravy is not entirely uncommon in our house.  It was one of my favourite meals that we had when I was a kid.  My mom's father was from Tennessee and she spent summers there as a kid, watching the women cook giant Southern meals from morning until night.  When I was younger and there were four of us kids to feed, money was tight, so we had a version of Shit On A Shingle that was made with Buddig's beef lunch meat all chopped up in it, over Bisquick drop biscuits.  I loved it.  Once I got older and the older boys had moved out, my dad started making his gravy with sausage, which needless to say, was much better.  Growing up in California, Justin says he never even heard of "biscuits and gravy" as a kid until he'd joined the army at 17 and was introduced to their version of S.O.S.  But once I moved in with him, it became a more regular meal in our home... breakfast, dinner, it didn't matter.

Today, we decided to change it up.  Instead of our regular, quick Bisquick drop biscuits, Justin the Mighty and Awesome Baker I made some old school Southern biscuits... made with lard and rolled out on the counter top.  They came out so-so.  I'll post how I did the recipe, and though they weren't bad, they were kind of small and needed something else, so it's a work in progress until I get it right.  And instead of making my basic sausage gravy, I tried a few new things and am definitely happy with the results!  I always just ground the breakfast sausage up and no matter how much I tried chopping it up with the wooden spoon in the pan, or adding water while cooking, it stayed pretty chunky and I just wanted to get it a little finer for the gravy.  So I threw it into the food processor after it was cooked.  Perfect!  Also, been on a bit of a shallot kick, so added that to the gravy, as well as some Gruyere cheese just to be experimental.  It kicks ass!  I really wanted to make my own breakfast sausage, but it was getting late when I started cooking, so I just bought some Jimmy Dean sausage and spiced it up.  Here it is... guaranteed to cause a heart attack... our version of Biscuits and Gravy!

For music, well... that was pretty easy.  B&G make me think of my mom's family, from Tennessee.  Tennessee makes me think of Nashville and Memphis.  Those towns make me think of rockabilly music, which led me straight to psychobilly and The Reverend.  -jen

SAUSAGE GRAVY

• 2 pounds breakfast sausage
• 2 teaspoons rubbed sage
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• couple dashes Worcestershire sauce
• 2 large shallots, diced fine
• 2 sticks (1 cup) butter
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon Caldo de Pollo (or chicken bouillon)
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (depending on taste)
• dash of hot sauce
• 1/2 gallon of whole milk
• 1.5 cups Gruyere cheese, shredded fine

In a bowl, mix sausage with sage, 1 teaspoon thyme, marjoram, celery salt, red pepper flakes and Worcestershire sauce.  In a large skillet on medium-high heat, cook sausage until all pink is gone.  Set aside to cool.  Once cool, place in food processor and pulse until crumbled to desire size.

In a large skillet, on medium-high heat, sautee shallots and butter until shallots are tender.  Add flour and whisk until smooth, making a roux.  Cook, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes.  While whisking, add milk and bring to a boil while continuing to whisk to break up any lumps.  Once boiling, turn heat to medium and add Gruyere in small handfuls, whisking until cheese is fully incorporated in sauce before adding next handful.  When cheese is fully melted in sauce, stir in the sausage and serve.

For the biscuits, I used Paula Deen's recipe, only I switched up the butter with lard, and the milk with buttermilk.  Like I said... they were definitely edible!  But I think I rolled out the dough a little thin and the flavour was missing something.  So I'm going to tweek it a few times and see what I can come up with.

Spinach and Sausage Cannelloni al Forno

There's a little restaurant just outside of Ukiah, California called Mario's Ristorante Italiano.  It's owned by some family friends of Justin's and Mario makes the best cannelloni I've ever had in my life!  He's inspired us to try, and try, and try again to make a cannelloni as good as his.  We can't.  But... our cannelloni is pretty freakin' awesome and this is the recipe for the last one we made!

Here to go with our cannelloni is Face to Face's cover of "Sunnyside of the Street", originally done by The Pogues.  The cannelloni made Justin think of this song because the first line mentions Rome... and we listen to a lot of Face to Face in our house. :)  -jen

SPINACH AND SAUSAGE CANNELLONI AL FORNO

• 2 pounds mild Italian sausage (sometimes I use a mix of hot/mild)
• 1.5 cups diced onion
• 4 teaspoons minced garlic (divided, 2 tsp/2tsp)
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
• 6oz fresh spinach
• 1 container (15oz) Ricotta cheese
• 1.5 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1.5 teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 tablespoons sundried tomatoes packed in oil, diced
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• black pepper, to taste
• 3 tablespoons good muffuletta (olive salad)
• 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup fresh basil, chiffonaded (is that a word?)
• about 12 crepes (see recipe below)
• marinara sauce (see recipe below)

In a skillet, brown Italian sausage and onion.  Drain and return to heat.  Add 2 teaspoons minced garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring to keep the garlic from burning.  Turn off heat and immediately mix in all of the spinach (it will cook down).

In a large bowl, combine Ricotta, thyme, oregano, remaining 2 teaspoons of garlic, sundried tomatoes, egg, salt, and pepper.  Add sausage/onion mixture, muffuletta, and Parmesan, mix.  Add basil last.

Refrigerate for one hour (at the same time your crepe batter is refrigerating) so flavours combine.

Preheat oven to 350F.  Coat a baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.  Spread a thin layer of marinara over the bottom.  Spoon filling into crepes, roll, and place seam-side down into sauce (it's okay for cannellonis to be touching).  Cover the middle with sauce.  I like to leave the ends exposed and sauce-free so they crisp up a little.  Sprinkle with some shredded mozzarella and bake for 30 minutes, or until the ends are browned.  Let cool slightly before serving.

QUICK MARINARA

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup diced yellow onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup red wine
• 28 oz can tomato sauce (or 28 oz can whole pealed tomatoes blended till smooth)
• 3/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp dried basil
• 3/4 tsp ground oregano
• 3/4 tsp dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

In a medium saucepan,  heat the oil over medium heat and add the onion and garlic.  Sweat, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent, about 4-5 minutes.  Add the wine and cook for 2 more minutes.  Add the rest of the ingredients and turn the heat up to medium high, bring to a boil.  Once the sauce has come to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cover for 25 minutes, occasionally stirring to make sure nothing sticks and that the simmer hasn't died.  This can be prepared ahead of time as the longer it sits, the better the flavor gets.  Make it a day ahead of time to get the best flavor result.

CREPES

• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup flour
• 3 tbsp melted butter
• 1/4 tsp salt
• oil or butter to lightly grease a small frying pan.

Place all ingredients in the blender and pulse until thoroughly combined, roughly 30 seconds.  Pour through a strainer into a separate container for fridge storage.  Leave to sit for about an hour before using.  This can actually be stored in the fridge for up to 48 hrs if desired.

Coat a small nonstick pan with butter or oil (only a very light coating is needed), heating over medium high heat and pour 1 oz of batter onto the surface when the pan is hot.  Swirl the pan around till the batter is spread out into a "round" shape as thin as can be managed.  The batter begins cooking instantly so you won't have more than one roll of the pan to get the shape but that's alright as they are meant to taste good as opposed to look perfect.  After 30 seconds, use a spatula to flip the crepe and continue cooking 15 more seconds.  Set aside and lay flat to cool.  Once cool, they can be stacked and frozen for up to 2 months, used right away, or kept in the fridge for a day or two.