Basil Chicken Cannelloni For My Suzy Poo

This one is for my dear friend Suzy. She is moving away and asked for me to keep posting things on here for her to make for her man. Lol. I have made this for the suzmeister before and she liked it so... here you are my love.

Basil Chicken Cannelloni on Wilted Spinach

Preparation Time 10 minutes Cooking Time 20 minutes

Ingredients (serves 4)

1 1/2 tsp olive oil

1 3/4 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves

1 small white onion, cut into quarters

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 1/4 tbs plain flour

365ml milk

Salt & freshly ground black pepper

450g lean chicken breast mince

1 120g pkt instant dried cannelloni tubes

30g (1/4 cup) shredded light mozzarella

1 bunch English spinach, stems trimmed, washed

Method Position an oven shelf in top rack of oven. Preheat oven to 230°C. Brush a 17 x 23cm shallow (base measurement) baking dish with 1/2 tsp of oil. Place 1 1/2 cups of basil leaves, onion, garlic, flour, 85ml milk, remaining oil, 1/2 tsp salt in bowl of a food processor. Process until basil is chopped. Combine mince, 1/4 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of pepper and 1 tbs of basil mixture in bowl. Fill each cannelloni tube. Place in a single layer in the baking dish. Place remaining milk and basil mixture in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 1-2 minutes or until mixture thickens. Pour sauce over the cannelloni and sprinkle with mozzarella. Bake in preheated oven for 18 minutes or until cannelloni are tender when pierced with a knife. Meanwhile, place the spinach with water clinging to the leaves in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook, covered, shaking pan occasionally, for 2-3 minutes or until wilted. Season with salt and pepper. Place spinach on plates, top with 3 cannelloni tubes and remaining basil.

Recipe by Jane Charlton Australian Good Taste - July 2002

• Try using fresh lasagne sheets (you can buy them in packets in the dairy case at the supermarket) instead of the crusty old dried cannelloni tubes. You just put the filling in the centre of one sheet of lasagne pasta and roll 'em up! Easy as and they taste SO much better and don't go crusty and dry out when cooked.
• I found that adding a can of chopped tomatoes over the top of the dish along with the basil sauce makes it more of a 'meal'.
• I like serving this dish as an entree at dinner parties, as it is simple and tasty and gets the taste buds tingling. Mwah ha ha!!!!