Mushroom and Feta Cannelloni with Slow-cooked Chicken

An original cannelloni recipe which includes slow-cooked chicken in the tomato sauce base. Mushroom and feta cheese are used for the cannelloni stuffing in this recipe.

This is an original recipe that isn't complicated, but does take some time to prepare. It's worth it.

We take a traditional cannelloni recipe of tomato sauce base, cannelloni stuffed with something ,cheese on top - and tweak it somewhat.


I decided to make this more of a meal by adding chicken to the sauce mixture, and a great way to to this is to slow-cook the chicken and sauce together all day long so you get a meaty sauce that is extra tasty. I used a mushroom and spinach base for stuffing the cannelloni which works well with the cheesy sauce on top. Yum.

Ingredients

Tomato & Chicken Sauce

• 2 tins whole peeled tomatoes
• 4 cloves of garlic, crushed or sliced
• handful of basil leaves
• 1tsp ground coriander
• 2 onions
• 2 - 3 fresh chilies (optional)
• a few sprigs of fresh thyme, or 1tsp dried thyme
• 6 - 8 chicken drumsticks
• 1tbsp red wine vinegar

Cannelloni

• 1 packet of dried cannelloni - approx 10-15 pieces
• Big bag of spinach
• 3 cloves of garlic, sliced
• 1 cup of mushrooms, finely diced
• Knob of butter
• Olive oil
• 250ml creme fraiche
• 1/4 cup cheddar cheese
• 200g feta cheese
• 1/4 cup of milk
• Salt and pepper to season

Slow-cooked sauce

The slow-cooked chicken and tomato sauce really makes this dish, it falls off the bone and has a really amazing taste. This slow-cooked meaty sauce on rice makes for a good meal on it's own if you don't want to go to the trouble of making the cannelloni.

Slow-cooking will take 4 - 10 hours so get this part of the recipe started in the morning.



Start by sauteing the garlic, thyme, ground coriander and chilies in a little olive oil. After about 1 minute, empty the contents of the pan into the slow-cooker or pot, and add the chicken drumsticks to the fry pan. You don't want to cook the chicken, just lightly brown the outside to give the slow-cooker a head start.



While the chicken is browning, chop the basil and onions and add these to the pot. I like a nice chunky sauce so rough, uneven slices of onion is better than finely diced pieces.
Add the browned chicken to the slow-cooker, and the 2 tins of tomatoes. Give it a good stir to coat the chicken with sauce, then put the lid on the cooker and set the heat according to how much time you have. On my cooker, high heat means about 4 hours, while low heat means 8-10 hours. Your cooker will have it's own way of doing things.



You can also slow-cook food on the stove top, but I highly recommend having a slow-cooker in the kitchen. You can assemble a meal in minutes, your veg goes in with the meat, there is the bare minimum of washing up, and even the cheapest nastiest meat tastes fantastic.

But let's move on.

Spinach and mushroom

This stuffing is based on spinach and mushroom, but other combinations work too. After talking to a couple of people in the know, spinach came out as a clear winner, but other suggestions were pumpkin and beef. I guess what I'm saying is, feel free to experiment with this part if you like. The main thing to keep in mind is the consistency - whatever you decide to use for the stuffing needs to be able to be pushed inside the cannelloni tubes, and not fall out easily.

Start by sauteeing 3 cloves of sliced garlic in a fry pan with a good knob of butter and some olive oil. The butter has the better flavor, but the oil prevents the butter from burning. Chop up the mushrooms into small cubes, and add this to the pan. Let this cook for about a minute, then add the chopped spinach, fill the pan to the top as spinach shrinks big time once cooked.
Add a little salt and pepper if you like, and cook the spinach for a few minutes until it's soft right through.



When cooked, remove from the heat and transfer into a bowl, then place to one side.

Sauce finished

Now it's time to take the sauce off the heat - it's had plenty of time to cook, and should be looking lovely. Transfer the sauce into an oven dish large enough to hold all the cannelloni side by side.


You will want to remove the chicken meat from the bone, and if it's been cooked properly, it will literally fall off the bone as you pick up the drumsticks. Remove the bones and knuckles, then break up the chicken into smaller pieces as you see fit. Give the sauce a good stir, and add a dash of red wine vinegar.

Stuffing the cannelloni

Once the spinach mixture has cooled, squeeze and drain the excess butter / oil / water that is remaining - no need to be too particular about this, but the mixture needs to be firm not sloppy.

Chop up the feta cheese into small cubes, and add this to the spinach. Add up to half the creme fraiche to the mix and stir, the mixture should be fairly firm but creamy, and stick to the spoon.

Stuff the mixture into the cannelloni tubes using a teaspoon. It's fairly easy to spoon the mixture into the hole, then push it in using the handle of the teaspoon.
Once all cannelloni tubes are stuffed, place them on top of the sauce. There isn't any need to push them into the sauce, as they will sink on their own accord, but you may want to push them down a little if you prefer your pasta soft rather than crunchy.

Cheesy sauce on top

Take the remaining creme fraiche and add some grated cheddar cheese. Give this a stir, and it will become quite lumpy. Slowly add milk and continue stirring until the mixture is more like a sauce - you want something approx the consistency of sour cream, not cream cheese.

Pour the sauce on top of the cannelloni. A nice touch is to sprinkle a few sprigs of thyme on top of the sauce, and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Cooking

Cooking will take about 30 mins at 200 degrees Celsius. Look for the sauce turning brown as a sign the dish is nearly ready.


Serve and enjoy.

Tags: chicken cannelloni mushroom pasta slow cooking chicken recipes slow cooker recipes

post a comment