Genovese cannelloni

Genovese cannelloni

Photograph by Leigh Beisch

SERVES 8
TIME About 2 hours

Ingredients
2 tbsp. butter
1 onion (8 oz.), chopped
2 lbs. boned, skinned chicken thighs, rinsed and cut into 1-in. chunks
1/2 cup chicken broth
8 oz. ricotta cheese (1 cup)
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 large egg
1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 tsp. salt
Creamy Tomato Sauce (recipe follows)
16 fresh egg roll wrappers (about 6 by 6 in.)
4 cups shredded fontina cheese

Directions
1. Melt butter in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add onion and stir until limp, 3 to 5 minutes. Add chicken and broth; cover pan and simmer gently until chicken is no longer pink in the center, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer chicken to a food processor, leaving broth in pan. Boil broth, stirring often, until reduced to about 1/4 cup, 8 to 15 minutes. Scrape into processor.

2. Add ricotta, parmesan, egg, nutmeg, and salt; whirl until finely ground.

3. Preheat oven to 375°. Spread 1/4 cup Creamy Tomato Sauce in each of two 9- by 13-in. baking dishes. Cut egg roll wrappers into 4- by 6-in. rectangles. Fill evenly (lengthwise) with chicken mixture, rolling wrappers around filling and laying seam down in sauce. Spoon remaining sauce over cannelloni to coat well. Scatter fontina over cannelloni.

4. Bake, uncovered, until sauce is bubbling, cheese is melted, and filling is hot in center, 25 to 35 minutes. Transfer to plates and spoon some of the sauce around each serving.

PER SERVING 738 cal., 44% (324 cal.) from fat; 52 g protein; 36 g fat (17 g sat.); 51 g carbo (2.8 g fiber); 1,462 mg sodium; 194 mg chol.

Creamy tomato sauce

Melt 1/4 cup (1/8 lb.) butter in a 2- to 3-qt. saucepan over medium heat; add 1/4 cup minced shallots and stir until limp, about 2 minutes. Add 3 tbsp. all-purpose flour and stir until pale gold, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove pan from heat and whisk in 2 1/3 cups chicken broth, 1 cup whipping cream, and 1 tbsp. chopped fresh basil leaves. Whisk mixture over high heat until boiling and thickened, then reduce heat to medium-low and whisk in 1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste and salt to taste.

Serve with Inman Family Pinot Gris 2007 (Russian River Valley)