Pacific Spinach Cannelloni and Nero Wolfe

 Don't you love discovering new authors and new foods?   Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Mysteries have just done it.  He's been around (1886-1975) for quite a few years, but new to me all the same.  The detective hero, Nero Wolfe, head of his own agency,  has been described as "overweight, epicurean and orchid-loving."  And I love how he spends as much time with the orchids as he does solving mysteries and helping his chef, Fritz, to perfect various culinary creations.  In the first of this volume, two novels in one, Black Orchiids and The Silent Speaker, Fritz was making some special sausages, saucisse minuit.  Later on he and Nero, on the advice of a Southern girl, material witness in an ongoing murder investigation, tried adding chitlins to a batch of corned beef hash, in a quest to solve that cooking problem, of nearly equal importance to solving the identity of the murderer.

Mango Crepes for Life from Scratch

Our Cook the Books Club selection for April/May is Life from Scratch, a Memoir of Food, Family and Forgiveness, by Sasha Martin.  All in all, heart rending, and poignant, but not my favorite memoir.

Just extemporizing here, as it's all another's history, but right at the outset, one would have thought that a woman with "Mom's" independence of mind, and spirited personality would have tucked her kids into their car, with all essentials and split for the West Coast or somewhere in between, rather than give up her precious children once again.  Especially since she regretted turning over her first two to an ex.  It's not explicitly stated, but perhaps she would have lost her welfare?  It happens all the time, for one reason or another, children are put into foster homes. That whole scenario bothered me.  Particularly as we see the awful effects it had on the children of both her relationships, based on Martin's memories. Definitely where forgiveness came into play.

Children without the mother they loved, no father, the business of her beloved brother's molestation and suicide, the coldness of her foster mother (which you can actually sort of understand, taking on two teens, angry and unhappy at leaving their own mother).   An interesting, honest, albeit sad story.

All that aside, and two thirds of the book in, we come to a point of, "Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,"  I loved the whole concept of  her Global Table Adventures, cooking right through the countries of the world, alphabetically.    I would like to give that a try myself, maybe take the remainder of my life, certainly no rush if you're not planning a book from it.

Chicken Cannelloni with Alfredo Sauce

This is the gluten-free cannelloni/crepes post I mentioned was in the works, on the Guava Muffin post.  I was very happy with those nutty little crepes and used the extras for Chicken Cannelloni last night.  Sort of a re-cycled Sunday, since we had crepes for breakfast and roast chicken for dinner.  Left-overs becoming the best of both meals.  As far as the photo, if I'd had any brains (wasn't too hungry to think straight) that would have been some fresh tarragon sprigs on top.  Since that's the herb I used inside.  So, use your imagination.

You can buy gluten-free flours, but I like Shauna, the Gluten-Free Girl's idea of mixing up your own AP flour and having it ready to use in a nice container.  That way you can control just what goes in, and it's a great way to start using less gluten.  There may be flours in the store bought mixes that don't agree with you, or you just don't like. I had a lot of miscellaneous flours around, so the added advantage was actually putting them to constructive use.

The idea is to do a combination of 70% whole grain flour and 30% starch.  I used corn flour, sorghum, teff and brown rice flour.  For the starch portion, potato, tapioca and white rice.  Having a digital scale helps a lot.  Just measure 700 grams flour to 30 grams starch, then whisk it all together lightly to mix and aerate the flours.

Cannelloni alla Madonita

This post for Presto Pasta Nights is all about what not to do.  Well, not ALL, but a few things to consider anyway.  The idea was to make cannelloni, using those nifty little Nasoya egg roll wraps, which were very successful in my Lemon Feta Ravioli.  This is another perfect application for them.  They work excellently for cannelloni.  It was just me.  Two mistakes which you can easily avoid.  Which I should have avoided, since I've made cannelloni so many times.  One would think it could have been done blindfolded.  It's good to learn from the errors of others.  Saves doing a botch job yourself.

Numero uno, don't crowd your pan.  Use a bigger one.  If they are touching, they will stick.  Still tasting good, but the presentation and serving is marred. And we foodies HATE that.  Next, butter the bottom of the dish, or put a bit of the sauce there, also so they won't stick.  Do you get what happened?  Everything stuck. Other than that, it was just fine.  Smiley face.