Chicken Cannelloni

I loved stuffed pasta. I also hate stuffing said pasta. Its really hard to do with out either burning yourself or splitting the pasta wide open. There's got to be an easier way!!!

Have no fear, the Kitchen Witch is here, to ease all of your stuffed (and rolled) pasta needs! All it takes is a little know how and a box of oven ready lasagna sheets. Lasagna? I thought you said we were having cannelloni. I did, you did read right but the secret to the Witches' cannelloni starts with no boil pasta.

No boil pasta sheets, or oven ready lasagna noodles, are designed to absorb the liquid they are cooked in and come out of the oven tender and perfect. I figured that I could pre soften them and voila, I have ready to go pasta sheets!

All it takes then is 'stuffing' them with chicken. That's easy, make a pastry bag out of a zip top bag, squeeze a roll of chicken onto the pasta sheets, roll it up and voila, instant cannelloni.

I top it off with a alfredo type sauce made out of chicken stock and milk, along with garlic and parmesean cheese. This helps save on calories and keep an otherwise heavy dish light.

Chicken Cannelloni
makes 5 servings of 2 rolls each
10 (about 1 box) barilla no boil lasagna pasta sheets
1 lb ground chicken
8 oz mozerella cheese, shredded and divided
1/2 c + 2 T parmesean cheese, divided
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup milk
2 T flour
5 cloves garlic, divided
2 T butter
1 t Italian herb seaoning blend

Boil a pot of water and then pour it into a 13x9 pan. Put the pasta sheets into the hot water and allow to soak for about 5-7 minutes or until soft enough to roll. Drain pasta sheets.

While pasta soaks mix chicken with 1/2 the mozerella cheese and 2 T parmesean, 2 cloves of garlic (minced) and the herbs. Add some S&P to your taste.



Put the chicken mixture into a large zip top bag, squish it all down to 1 end and cut the end off leaving a 1.5 in opening (approx, I'm not that anal LOL).



Take a pasta sheet, pipe a rope of chicken mixture on the short end of the pasta and roll. Put the roll seam side down in a sprayed casserole pan. Roll remaining sheets with chicken and put in the pan. Sprinkle top with remaining mozerella cheese.



Make a roux out of the butter and flour. Cook about 4 minutes until it starts to brown and smells nutty. Slowly whisk in the chicken stock and milk. Add garlic and allow to thicken. Stir in the 1/2 cup parmesean cheese, stirring well to mix.



Pour the cheese sauce over the pasta rolls and cheese. It WILL look like you have way too much sauce, this is OK as the pasta will absorb a lot and you do want a sauce to spoon over top. Bake at 375* for about 45 minutes, uncovered or until its bubbly and browned on the edges.





Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople Recipe Calculator
5 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 511.2
Total Fat 21.4 g
Saturated Fat 9.8 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.5 g
Monounsaturated Fat 1.9 g
Cholesterol 144.6 mg
Sodium 927.0 mg
Potassium 261.8 mg
Total Carbohydrate 36.0 g
Dietary Fiber 1.7 g
Sugars 3.2 g
Protein 46.8 g