Goat And Beetroot Cannelloni

I love to play around with different flavours and combinations of foods, depending on what is in the fridge or cupboard and what looks good at the shops.

Sometimes these combinations work out really well, other times not so good. Obviously those that don't work out, you never get to read about!

This week, I had some fresh lasagne sheets in the fridge and a beetroot that was looking sad and sorry for it's self, that I'd forgotten about in the bottom of the basket. Throw in a giant bag of yellow and orange capsicums in the clearance section of the fruit shop and some herbs from the garden and I was set on making some cannelloni.

I don't actually make cannelloni very often, but when I do, it tends to be ricotta and spinach or some other vegetarian version. This time I thought I'd make a meaty version that would match nicely with the beetroot. Initially I was going to make chicken ones, but our local Middle Eastern butcher has wonderful goat mince, so I decided that was the way to go. Sweet, lean goat and sweet, earthy beetroot are a fantastic combination!

Instead of a tomato based sauce, I decided to make a sweet roasted capsicum one with dill and garlic. Roasting the capsicums brings out a lovely sweetness in them, and the yellow and orange ones I picked up tend to be on the sweeter side anyway.

To make sure there was enough liquid to cook the pasta, I added a bit of water to the baking tray with the cannelloni before it went into the oven. This didn't dilute the sauce at all, but helped to make sure the pasta was al dente once the top was a beautiful golden colour.

Since the cannelloni already had quite a lot of different flavours going on, I served it with a simple lettuce, tomato and avocado salad. You could get more creative if you like, but I think keeping it simple is better than being too overwhelmed.

Goat And Beetroot Cannelloni

500g goat mince
1 medium beetroot, peeled and grated
1 red onion, finely diced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
A drizzle of olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped dill
Salt and pepper to taste

6 mixed yellow and orange capsicums
1/4 cup finely chopped dill
1 clove of garlic, coarsely chopped
1 ripe tomato, quartered
1/2 cup water

1 packet of fresh lasagne sheets

To make the filling, heat a drizzle of oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the mince beetroot, onion and garlic.

Fry until the meat is just cooked, breaking up clumps as you go. The meat will continue to cook in the oven, so it doesn't matter if it's not cooked all the way through.
Stir through the dill and season to taste.
Set aside to cool.

To make the sauce, cut capsicums in half and remove the seeds and membranes.
Place them skin side up on a large baking tray on a piece of foil. This means less cleaning up afterwards!
Grill under hight heat until the skin is blistered and blackened. The blacker the better.
Remove from the grill, wrap all the capsicums into a parcel with the foil and set aside for 10 minutes to cool and loosen the skins.
Carefully unwrap the parcel, keeping all the lovely juices inside.
Peel the skins off the capsicum and put the flesh and juices in a food processor.
Add the garlic, dill, tomato and water and process to a smooth sauce.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.

To assemble, cut the pasta sheets in half so that you have 2 squares from each piece.
Lay all the pieces out on a bench and divide the filling up between them. You want enough filling so that you can still roll and enclose the cannelloni.
Roll them all up with the seam side down.

Spread a good spoonful of the sauce on the base of a large baking dish and add 1/4 cup of water. This helps to cook the pasta.

Lay the cannelloni over the sauce in a single layer. I could fit 14 rolls into my dish.
Sprinkle an extra 1/4 cup water over the top and then spoon the remaining sauce evenly over the pasta.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
Bake cannelloni for about 30 minutes, or until the pasta is cooked and the sauce has turned to a nice crust on the top.
Rest for 5 minutes in the tray before serving with a light salad.

Enjoy!

And To Drink....

There's no photo of tonight's wine because it was a cleanskin Pinot Noir with no label.  I picked it up from Hanging Rock Winery a few years ago when we went for a drive to the Macedon Ranges in Victoria. We bought a dozen of the wines in a special deal and have been enjoying them ever since. Being a cool climate Pinot Noir, there is lots of beautiful plum and red berry fruit flavours. There was no funkiness to this wine and it had nice clean and simple flavours.

The ripe red fruits matched perfectly with the sweetness in the goat and beetroot filling and the roasted capsicum sauce. 

This was certainly a cheaper quaffer, but was a great wine to have with a nice hearty meal on a cool Spring night. It certainly went down very easily!

Hanging Rock Winery make some fantastic wines, particularly their premium Sparkling, Shiraz and Pinot Noir.  If you happen to be in the Macedon Ranges, make sure you drop in. It's only an hour drive from Melbourne, so is perfect for a day trip or when you just want to get out of the city for a weekend.