Seafood Cannelloni
Yield: 4
Adapted from many
Delicate crepes, filled with crab meat, bay scallops and shrimp, mixed with shallots, garlic, onion, celery, red bell peppers, and cheese with a saffron cream sauce
For the crepes:
- 2large eggs, at room temperature
- 1cups AP flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled off
- 1pinch of salt
- 1¼cups milk, or more as needed
- 2TBS melted butter, for brushing the sauté pan
For the seafood filling:
- 2TBS unsalted butter
- 8oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
- 1-2shallots, minced
- 1stalk celery, minced
- ½cup red bell pepper, minced
- 1clove garlic, minced
- 8oz medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 8oz lump crabmeat, drained and picked over for shells
- 8oz sea scallops, foot removed, sliced in half horizontally
- ¼cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
For the saffron cream sauce:
- 1pinch of saffron
- 2TBS very warm water
- ¼cup unsalted butter
- ¼cup finely minced onions
- ½tsp sea salt
- 2cloves finely minced garlic
- ¼cup flour
- ¾cup milk
- ¼cup white wine
- ⅔cup cream
- pinch chili powder
Topping:
- ¼cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- ¼cup chopped fresh parsley
For the pasta:
Combine the eggs, flour, salt and milk. Beat until smooth. Let stand 30 minutes.
Heat a 10-inch, nonstick sauté pan over medium heat. Brush with some of the butter and pour in a scant ¼ cup of the batter. Rotate the pan to spread the batter to the edges and cook until top is dry. Remove to a wire rack, brush pan with some more melted butter and continue until all batter is used. Stack pasta sheets, placing pieces of wax paper in between each sheet. (These may be made ahead and refrigerated for 2 days or frozen for up to 1 month.)
For the seafood:
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and sauté until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the shallots, red bell pepper, and celery. Sauté until softened. Add the garlic and sauté for 15-30 seconds. Add the scallops and shrimp. Sauté until shrimp just turn pink. Gently stir in crab meat, cheese, salt and pepper. Remove from heat and set aside.
Prepare saffron and make a roux:
Put the warm water in a small bowl and crumble the saffron into it. Set aside to infuse. Meanwhile, melt the butter on medium heat. Add the onions and salt and sauté until translucent. Add the garlic and continue cooking until it is just fragrant, 20 to 30 seconds. Whisking constantly, add the flour to make a roux. Cook over medium heat until you can see the garlic bits in the roux getting toasty and the whole thing developing a golden hue, for about 3 minutes.
Finish the sauce:
When your roux is lightly golden, add the milk in a thin stream, whisking constantly. Next, add the white wine and the saffron-infused water. Keep whisking, the sauce will thicken and smooth. Once it does, remove it from the heat and stir in the cream. Taste and adjust salt if necessary and whisk in chili powder (optional). If the texture is too rich, stir in a bit more milk, a little at a time.
Whisk in the cheese, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Remove from heat and fold half of cream sauce into the seafood filling.
To assemble the cannelloni:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Spoon about one cup of the coulis in the bottom of the baking dish. Spread about ½ cup of the seafood filling down the center of each crepe, roll up and arrange on top of tomato coulis. Repeat with remaining crepes and filling. Spread pasta with remaining béchamel sauce. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and parsley. Bake, uncovered, for about 30 minutes, until hot and bubbly.
Serve:
Serve with rice pilaf and steamed asparagus.
