Not The Prettiest, But Pretty Delicious

I started out this dish based on a Jamie Oliver recipe I found on-line. I loved his idea of using slow cooked vegetables as the filling for the cannelloni. The broccoli and cauliflower are cooked in boiling water, drained and cooked again with olive oil, anchovies, garlic, and chili peppers until soft enough to pipe into half-cooked cannelloni shells. Oliver makes what he calls a white sauce out of creme fraiche and flour. He also uses a tomato sauce layered into his casserole. That's where we parted ways. I somehow just couldn't stomach the idea of an "easy" quick mixed white sauce, so I made a quick version with butter, flour and milk. I looked in the fridge and found a tub of ricotta which I mixed into the white sauce along with some grated parmesan for a cheesy creamy, yet still delicate base. I layered the sauce, stuffed noodles, and more grated parmesan into a baking dish and popped it in to the oven for about 30 minutes at 375º.

MMM Good.