Crab and Ricotta Cannelloni
"These look so delicious! Am posting here for later use, A Giada De Laurentiis creation."
- Ready In:
- 1hr 15mins
- Ingredients:
- 16
- Serves:
-
6
ingredients
-
SHELLS
- 1 (8 ounce) box cannelloni pasta shells (about 12 shells) or (8 ounce) box manicotti (about 12 shells)
- 1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
- 3⁄4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1⁄4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (for sprinkling)
- 1 egg yolk
- 1⁄2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves (we'll use parsley, personal choice) or 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley (we'll use parsley, personal choice)
- 1 lb crabmeat
- 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
- 1⁄4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- bechamel sauce
-
BECHAMEL SAUCE
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter or 5 tablespoons unsalted margarine
- 1⁄2 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 cups whole milk, warmed
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
- 1⁄4 teaspoon fresh ground white pepper
- 1 pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
directions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat.
- Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8-10 minutes.
- Drain pasta.
- In a large bowl, mix together ricotta, 3/4 cup Parmesan, egg yolk, basil or parsley, crab, salt, and pepper.
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Fill the cannelloni with the crab mixture and place in buttered baking dish.
-
MAKE THE BECHAMEL SAUCE:
- In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.
- Add the flour and whisk until smooth, about 2 minutes.
- Gradually add the warm milk, whisking constantly(if not it will be all lumpy)until the sauce is thick, smooth and creamy, about 10 minutes(DO NOT allow the sauce to boil).
- Remove from the heat and stir in the salt, pepper, and nutmeg. (The sauce can be made up to 3 days ahead. Cool and then cover and refrigerate).
- Top the filled cannelloni with the Bechamel Sauce and sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese.
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Reviews
-
Like a lot of you, manicotti is one of my faves from my youth. I have a recipe that I have always used, but decided to try this one from Giada. However, I made slight adjustments. I only use the Bechamel sauce on the bottom of the dish (2 Tb butter, 4 tsp flour, 1 1/4 C 1% milk w/ 1 tsp flour whisked in, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp pepper, pinch of nutmeg = follow the rest of the directions, only simmer for only 5 mins... you can tell when it thickens.) I also used 15 oz of low-fat ricotta, 2 egg yolks, 1/4 C fresh basil and 1/2 lb of crabmeat. I topped the manicotti with 1 big jar of Prego Ricotta/Parmesan pasta sauce. Bake for 1 hour and then add a mixture of parmesan & romano cheese to the top and bake for another 15 mins. These changes make the recipe much healthier and more traditional. Enjoy! =) -
Very rich and tasty. Having lived in Maryland for 8 years, we had to add Old Bay Seasoning to the top for both color and flavor (but that's a personal preference with any crab recipe). We picked this recipe for our cooking class luncheon for 125 people and it got a hit. Thanks! -
Easy to make and tasted great! I made 12 extra and froze them for a few quick dinners. Thanks! -
I can't believe you haven't made this yet! I came here to rate it,I made it tonight for the 2nd or 3rd time. If you use part skim ricotta add 2 egg yolks. I used only 1/4 cup basil, and thickened skim milk with cornstarch, as always. I also added parm to the bechemel sauce as we find it a little bland alone. If don't have fresh, hey it's 21 degrees in CT today, get the stuff near the seafood counter, don't get the little cans, they should be illegal.
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
<p>Hello all, thank you for visiting My Page but forgive me for it is a work in progress! :) As I am sure you have noticed I changed my Chef Name to Manami which means love & beauty. ;) Just thought I should get with the program - my geisha & my icon! :) Don't fret, I won't change it again! <br /><br />I am 70 years young and I live in a nursing home, which is out of this world, I am treated like a princess and the world is my oyster! I have a private room and during the season I do taxes for most of the staff, as well as my personal clients that have been following me since I left the business world about 25 years ago. I was rear-ended by a van and it turned my whole world upside down. Why dwell on that? <br /><br />I am an American Jew (from NYC) who moved to Havana, Cuba when I was 2 1/2 years old, lived there until a few days after Castro took over and vamoosed it out of that country as fast as my legs would carry me! I was on a forced hiatus from the UofM, due to illness. <br /><br />From there my sister, mother and I went to NYC to work and my father went to Haiti in Port-Au-Prince, where he and my uncle had purchased some tiny cocoa plantations & a chocolate factory - for the choccolate liquer - to make baking chocolate (the real bitter stuff). We joined my father about 2 months later where I spent 2 of the most carefree & wonderful years of my life! It is the stuff that movies are made of! (A la Grace Kelly - even my clothes were like hers)> </p>
<p>I then continued my studies in upstate NY and hated it because it was too, too cold!:( Went back to NYC to work and see what I wanted to do with my life - I was all of 20 years old and had to drop out of school because of illness and then because of the weather! Yuck - so I got a job in a Textile Buying Office as a receptionist and soon I found myself buying trimmings! Loved it and was very happy with the work I was doing. <br /><br />However, I got an offer from two young guys who had a factory in Cleveland, Ohio, where they made Maternity Clothes and they wanted me to be in charge of the shipping dept, keep inventory and in my spare time - help with the designing!! I couldn't pass it up - the offer sounded so great and the salary was twice what I was making in the NYC. So I went to Cleveland, got married, had both my children and got a divorce 15 years later. <br /><br />Then my children and I moved to South Florida and have been here since 1978, I can't count that far back :) <br /><br />Learned how to do taxes with H&R Block and worked simultaneously as a Supervisor in 2 offices for them for 15 years. Then after the accident everything went spiralling downwards until I could no longer walk alone even with a walker - so the next step was a wheelchair. Stayed at home with a lot of help (nurses, PT therapists) fixed the bathroom so I could bathe myself and fixed the kitchen so I could help warm-up meals (was taught how to cook in rehab) and so forth and so on. <br /><br />However, the fire department had other plans for me, I called them too often to pick me up off the floor - how embarassing! So they gave me a choice - either a home or they would have to call HRS! :( (very sad) <br /><br />It was there, in my home where I was robbed! <img title=Cry src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-cry.gif border=0 alt=Cry /> All my cookbooks (all my Julia Childs Cookbooks, my Settlement Cookbook which had been my mothers - published in 1939 - with all her notes) my mother's cookbooks from Cuba & Haiti, all my handwritten recipes. They also took all my Delft collection, some antiques that I had in the kitchen like my rolling pin, a beautiful old & used wooden bowl, a charcoal-iron that was brought north when my parents left Haiti, it was hand-painted & was gorgeous, as well as all the other things that are too numerous to mention! <br /><br />That proved to be the last straw & from there it was an ALF,<img title=Yell src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-yell.gif border=0 alt=Yell /> which was horrible, and then on to another home where the administrator of that home became the administrator here and voila, here I am. <img title=Smile src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-smile.gif border=0 alt=Smile /></p>
<p>I have a beautiful large private room with a private bath, furnished to my liking: eclectic! <img title=Wink src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-wink.gif border=0 alt=Wink /> My room is large enough to house my office and all the other odds and ends with which I like to surround myself.<br /><br />During tax season, mostly, my room is always full (of course I love it that way)! I have a blanket my daughter bought for me in New Mexico and that is on my bed. You guessed it - that is where everbody sits or on my great grandfather's arm chair which is in great shape. <img title=Smile src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-smile.gif border=0 alt=Smile /> Update 01/11/2008 that time is here again :) Have started doing taxes already and not just regular taxes but corporations, partnerships and 1040X - ammended returns! Whoopee! I love the feeling I get when this time comes around and I get into gear!!! I love it! :) <br /><br />The head chef, the kitchen supervisor & the dietician enjoy the recipes from Zaar; the ones that I post, as well as, the others. We are in the process of changing the menu right now - so we have been doing a lot of figuring. The administrator is so cute because every once in a while she asks for a recipe and then she gives me a pack of paper so I can print them. <img title=Wink src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-wink.gif border=0 alt=Wink /><br /><br />I am president of the resident council and most of the family members come to me to take care of their grievances - this way I do my part - and the staff can take care of the larger problems! It has been working for 10 years - why change if it ain't broke?<img title=Wink src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-wink.gif border=0 alt=Wink /></p>
<p>Well, it's time to say hasta luego folks. <img title=Laughing src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-laughing.gif border=0 alt=Laughing /><br /><br /></p>
