Courgette and Blue Cheese Cannelloni

This is the kind of dish that impresses at dinner parties, fills family stomachs, and yet is cheap to create and perfect for bulk cook-ins for the freezer. We make this regularly, usually at my meat-eating husband's request.

Please note: this recipe is copyright Grace Tierney. If you want to e-mail it around or publish it, please ask my permission first.

Equipment : oven dish, preferably rectangular, 12 by 8 inches

Makes : four with tossed salad

A smear of butter to grease your shallow oven dish
Tablespoon of olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 large courgette, finely chopped
8-12 button mushrooms, washed annd finely chopped
large tub of single cream
dried canelloni tubes
half a wedge of blue cheese, stilton for example
tblsp of thyme (preferably fresh)
salt and pepper
cheese sauce (from a packet or make your own with flour, butter, milk and grated cheddar)

1. Fry the onions, mushrooms and courgettes for 5 minutes. Add most of the cream and simmer until it has reduced by half. Season with salt and pepper to taste and remove from heat.

2. Allow the mixture to cool for ten minutes and then spoon it into the tubes using a teaspoon

3. Place the tubes into the greased oven dish and surround with an excess filling mixture

4. Make up your cheese sauce now (melt butter, add flour to form a paste, slowly add milk, allow to thicken, add grated cheese)

5. Pour the rest of the cream and the cheese sauce into the oven dish. Crumble cheese on top, sprinkle with thyme.

6. Bake at 190 Celcius (375 Fahrenheit/Gas Mark 5) for 40 minutes

Options

· Brie may be used instead of stilton by using slices rather than crumbling

· The onion, mushroom, and courgette mixture can be replaced with sweetcorn and peppers or spinach and ricotta cheese. Or any combination you like, as long as it is finely chopped and partly cooked before baking.

· This freezes and re-heats well

All photography and text on these pages, except when otherwise indicated, are copyright Grace Tierney 2003 - 2009

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