It Tastes Like Christmas

CANALONES MONTANER

This is a recipe that comes from my mother-in-law's old recipe book. It is a dish she always served during Christmas since her children were young. When you serve this to my husband or any of his family, they say, " it tastes like Christmas". Once you take a bite of the soft thin crepe swimming in the Bechamel sauce, the flavors of the meat filling- made up of grounds meats, liver paste and Majestic ham scraps- burst in your mouth and according to them," triggers loads of many memories of Christmases past" . When Canalones  is on the table, it must be a very very special occasion ! Now, even the next generation– Enzo, Iya, Jan,Jovi and Jack - look forward to having it every Christmas morning.
It is a definite family favorite, but Lola Nanay's recipe note says," A favorite of the Gutierrezes and President JFK", making me wonder where the origins are of this recipe.

 Filling :

½ kg ground lean pork

½ kg boiled ground chicken   (save the broth!)

¼ kg ground ham (Majestic scrap ham)

1 large onion chopped fine

liquid seasoning (Maggi) 

½ cup milk

¼ cup flour

½ cup broth or water

¼ cup chopped parsley

½ cup liver spread

Saute onion with pork, chicken and ham.

(Nanay puts the chicken and ham in a food processor so the filling turns out very fine.)

Season with a little Maggi seasoning.

Add flour, mix then add milk and broth, parsley and liver spread.

Savory Crepe Wrapper:

1 cup APF

½ tsp salt

2 TBSP Knorr seasoning

½ cup milk

½ cup water

3 eggs

Mix until well blended using a wire whisk.

For fine crepes, pass thru a sieve.

Cook in a Teflon pan as you would crepes using about ¼ cup batter per crepe.

Makes 8-12 crepes. May need to double the recipe if using a Pyrex rectangular dish.

Bechamel Sauce:

¼ cup all purpose flour

¼ block Magnolia or Anchor butter

½ block Queso or Magnolia Cheddar cheese

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1 250 ml carton Nestle cream

¾ cup milk + ¾ cup water or chicken broth

½ Knorr beef cube

Melt butter in a saucepan over low medium fire.

Stir in flour. (Actually I’ve seen Nanay toast or brown the flour a bit in the dry saucepan before she put the butter.)

Mix with wire whisk. Add in water/broth and rest of the liquids. Mix well.

Add Nestle cream, grated cheese and beef cube. Stir until thick.

To assemble: 

Put 2 TBSP meat filling in the middle of a crepe. Roll tightly. Lay out filled crepes in a glass baking dish. Pour Bechamel sauce over the crepes.

Top with thin slices of Quickmelt cheese.

Bake at 275 degrees for 20-30 minutes.