Ground Turkey Cannelloni

This is one of those dishes where you don't have to follow the ingredient recommendation exactly. As long as you have the most important ingredients like pasta shells, ground meat, marinara sauce, broth, parmesan cheese, eggs, milk, and herbs, you're pretty good to go. Cooking with too many measuring utensils sort of stresses me out, so this is one dish that is right up my alley. The no-measuring utensil method does not work for all dishes, but it does work for this one.

I hope you enjoy. Hubby sure did last night, eating 4 of these big boys.

Adapted from AllRecipes

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. ground turkey

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1/2 onion, minced

1/2 cup celery, minced (about 3 stalks)

1/3 cup carrot, minced

1 teaspoon garlic, minced

1/4 cup white wine

1/2 cup chicken broth

2 teaspoons fresh herbs, chopped (rosemary, parsley, thyme are all good options)

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1 bay leaf

1 egg yolk

1 Tablespoon butter

1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour

1/2 cup milk

dash nutmeg

1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

2-3 cups marinara sauce 

6-8 cannelloni/manicotti pasta shells, cooked and drained

DIRECTIONS:

In a large saucepan, heat olive oil. Add onion, celery, and carrot and cook until softened. Add garlic and cook one minute. Add ground turkey and cook, stirring occasionally, until meat is no longer pink. Add wine and reduce for one minute. Stir in broth and add herbs and bay leaf. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and let simmer for 15 minutes. Uncover and let reduce until almost dry. Discard bay leaf and set aside mixture to cool. 

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small saucepan and whisk in the flour. Whisk in milk, nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste and let simmer for about 5 minutes or until thickened. Stir in parsley and 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese. Remove from heat. 

Transfer the cooled meat mixture to a large bowl and add egg yolk and cheese-parsley sauce.  

Spoon meat filling into cannelloni shells and arrange, in a single layer, in a well-buttered baking dish. 

Cover the stuffed shells with any remaining meat mixture, marinara sauce, and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. 

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes or until parmesan cheese is slightly golden.