Lettuce Patch Gardens Sustainably grown artisan vegetables Colorado Springs, Colorado

Swiss Chard and Fontina Cannelloni

½ pound of fresh egg pasta (recipe follows), rolled thinly and cut into 20 3-by-5 inch rectangles

1 pound of Swiss chard, stemmed and washed thoroughly

½ pound fontina cheese, shredded

1 large egg yolk

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

2 medium garlic cloves, peeled

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 15-ounce cans crushed tomatoes

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Bring 6 quarts of water to a boil in a large soup kettle. Add salt to taste and 3 or 4 noodles. Cook until almost al dente, then gently retrieve the noodles with a large slotted spoon and transfer them to a bowl of ice water for 30 seconds. Drain the noodles and lay them out on kitchen towels. Repeat the process with 3 or 4 noodles at a time and a fresh bowl of ice water. (The pasta can stay out for up to 1 hour.) Keep the water at a boil.

Add the Swiss chard to the boiling water; stir until wilted. Cover and cook until the greens are tender, about 7 minutes, drain in a colander and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process. Squeeze as much excess water as possible from the greens and coarsely chop them.

Combine the Swiss chard, Fontina cheese, egg yolk, ½ teaspoon salt, and the pepper in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Process the garlic through a garlic press into a small bowl, stir in 1 teaspoon water. Heat the oil and garlic in a medium sauté pan over medium heat until fragrant, but not brown, about 2 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, simmer until thickened slightly, about 10 minutes. Season with salt to taste.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Use the butter to grease a 13 by 9-inch baking dish.

Cannelloni are simply small rectangles of fresh egg pasta that are coated with sauce and rolled into small bundles. To make the pasta for this dish, roll large sheets of pasta as thin as possible. Place the sheets on a work surface and use a sharp knife or pizza wheel to cut the dough into rectangles that measure 3 by 5 inches.

Spread 1 ½ tablespoons of the filling over the noodle, leaving a ¼-inch border on all sides.

Starting at a shorder end, roll up the cannelloni jelly-roll style.

Place the cannelloni seam side down in the baking dish. They all should fit snugly in a single layer in the pan.

Spoon the tomato sauce over the cannelloni. Sprinkle with the Parmesn.

Bake until golden, about 12 minutes. Serve immediately.

Fresh Egg Pasta

2 cups all-purpose flour

3 large eggs, beaten

Pulse the flour in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade to evenly distribute and aerate. Add the eggs; process until the dough forms a rough ball, about 30 seconds. If the dough does not come together, add water, ½ teaspoon at a time; if the dough sticks add flour 1 tablespoon at a time, and process until the dough forms a rough ball.

Turn the dough ball out onto a dry work surface; knead until the dough is smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for at least 15 minutes and up to 2 hours to relax.

Cut about 1/6 of the dough from the ball and flatten into a disk; rewrap the remaining dough. Run the disk through your pasta maker, down to the smallest setting. Lay the sheet of pasta on a clean kitchen towel and cover it with a damp cloth to keep it from drying out. Repeat the process with the remaining pieces of dough.

Cut the pasta into the desired size.

From The Complete Book of Pasta and Noodles

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