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.

The Crepes

1 cup AP gluten-free flour (this is an old recipe which I haven't gotten around to weighing the ingredients for)
4 eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled a bit
1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cups milk (I used soy milk)

Whirl everything together in your blender, or madly whisk the eggs and half the milk together with the flour, eliminating any lumps, then adding enough milk for a thin pancake consistency.  If you have enough time, let it sit for a half hour or so.

The only real reason I use soy milk is because we don't drink enough regular milk, just using it on cereal and in baked goods occasionally, to keep it from going off.  The soy milk powder can be shaken up with water in small quantities, and used as needed.

Pour 1/4 cup or so into a heated and lightly oiled small skillet, quickly swirl around to the edges and cook a few minutes on each side.

When they're all finished, set aside while you put your filling and sauce together. I minced up a few cups of chicken, some green onion, minced fresh tarragon, some of the sauce and Ricotta Salata for the filling.  For the topping I used a lovely jar of Delallo Alfredo Sauce from my pantry, of which the first ingredient is cream, followed by milk and Pecorino Romano cheese.  Seriously good.  Not to mention easy.  We like that now and then.

Arrange your cannelloni in a baking dish and top with the sauce.  Bake at 350 F for about 20-30 minutes, or until hot through and bubbly.  They were delicious with a hint of the tarragon coming through. Though I more frequently make this dish, with a marinara sauce, we did enjoy the Alfredo version.  That is a salad of beets, walnuts and basil on the side.  Note that these crepes hold together better when fresh.  Wheat flour ones seem to keep better.  Sorry gluten-free guys.  Also, I would use (this was a learning experience all round) another cheese, one that would do a nicer job of binding the filling. Like melting.

I'm sending this off to Ruth, faithful founder, and hostess this week for Presto Pasta Nights.  Check out all the fabulous recipes which will be up after Friday on her site.