Remember the song I’d Do Anything from the musical Oliver? Well while making this recipe I realized that I would obviously do anything for Jamie Oliver, even cook with *gasp* anchovies. If Jamie and I were doing this little duet on a stage in the West End somewhere it might have gone something like this:

[Erin (sung)]
I’ll do anything
For you Jamie anything
For you mean everything to me.

I know that
I’ll cook anything
For your cheeky smile, anything –
For your cheeky smile, ev’rywhere –
I’d see.

[Jamie]
Would you make that cannelloni I banged out on my show the other day?

[Erin]
Anything!

[Jamie]
Chop up broccoli and cauliflower and cook it till it’s mush?

[Erin]
Anything!

[Jamie]
Turn CK’s mouth into a four alarm fire with too many chiles?

[Erin]
Anything!

[Jamie]
Even cook with anchovies?

[Erin]
What? Fish?!
*crickets* I’ll have to think about that…um.  Ok?!
I’d cook anything
For one kiss — everything
Yes, I’d do anything…

[Jamie]
Wow!  Even Fish?! What a brilliant girl!

[Erin]
Anything for you!!

Incredible Baked Cauliflower and Broccoli Cannelloni
Originally included in the cookbook Jamie at Home scheduled to be published on September 16, 2008

Sea salt
1 pound broccoli, washed, florets and stalks chopped
1 pound romanesco or white cauliflower, washed, florets and stalks chopped
Olive oil
7 cloves garlic, peeled and finely sliced
1 small bunch fresh thyme, leaves picked
1 (1-ounce) can best-quality anchovies in oil, drained and chopped, oil reserved
2 to 3 small dried chiles, crumbled (Note: I used 4 because Jamie used 4 on the episode.  It was seriously spicy, which I was OK with, but you should probably stick to 2 or 3).
Freshly ground black pepper
2 cups good-quality tomato sauce
Good-quality red wine vinegar
2 cups creme fraiche
7 ounces Parmesan, finely grated
16 cannelloni tubes
1 small bunch fresh basil, leaves picked
7 ounces good-quality mozzarella cheese
Extra-virgin olive oil
4 large handfuls arugula leaves, washed and dried
1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil and drop in the chopped broccoli and cauliflower. Boil for 5 to 6 minutes, until cooked, then drain in a colander, reserving the cooking water.Heat a wide saucepan, pour in a couple of good glugs of olive oil and add the garlic. Fry for a few seconds, then add the thyme leaves, anchovies, anchovy oil and chiles and continue frying for a few seconds more before adding the cooked broccoli and cauliflower with around 4 tablespoons of the reserved cooking water. Stir everything together, put a lid on the pan leaving a little gap, and cook slowly for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring regularly - overcooking the vegetables not only intensies their flavor but gives you the texture that you need for this recipe. Remove the lid for the last 5 minutes to let the moisture evaporate, then use a potato masher to crush the vegetables. Take the saucepan off the heat, taste the vegetables and season carefully with salt and pepper. Spread the mixture on a baking sheet to cool. Meanwhile, get yourself another baking dish or roasting pan (the right size for fitting the cannelloni tubes snugly side by side - I test this by actually laying the tubes into the dish, then remove them and put to 1 side) and pour in the tomato sauce with a pinch of salt and a swig of red wine vinegar.

Now, to make a really quick and easy white sauce, mix the creme fraiche with half the Parmesan, a sprinkling of salt and pepper and a little of the reserved cooking water to thin it down.

Spoon your cooled broccoli and cauliflower mixture into a large sandwich bag and cut off the corner. Twist the top of the bag and squeeze it to pipe the filling into the cannelloni tubes. (If you prefer, use a teaspoon to push the mixture into the cannelloni or use a piping bag.) Fill the tubes up - don’t be stingy! - and place them in a single layer on top of the sauce. Lay the basil leaves over the cannelloni and spoon your white sauce evenly over the top. Season with black pepper, sprinkle over the remaining Parmesan and tear over the mozzarella. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden and bubbling on top.

Dress the arugula leaves with a squeeze of lemon juice and about 3 times as much extra- virgin olive oil. Serve the cannelloni with the arugula and some good crusty bread.

Like Sarah Jessica Parker’s cringe-worthy character, Meredith, in The Family Stone, please allow me to fly my “freak flag” for a moment: Recently my friend Anna took me out on a post birthday date to the MFA followed by tapas and sangria at Tapeo. Surprisingly the highlight of our outing wasn’t the fabulous sangria or the entire plate of meat and cheese that I guiltily chased it with, but a painting. The painting actually caught my eye as soon as I entered the gallery it solemnly hung in. It was dark, and dreary, and very creepy, but like those late night airings of Poltergeist and The Ring almost impossible to look away from. I love scary movies. I really do, and I watch them religiously from behind the safety of the palms of my hands while I cower and shake.

Isabella and the Pot of Basil is the title of the painting. It was composed by John White Alexander who based his portrait on an earlier work done by William Holman Hunt. Each depicts a scene from John Keats’s poem Isabella, or the Pot of Basil. In the poem, Isabelle’s brothers murder her lover Lorenzo. Lorenzo’s ghost comes to Isabelle in the night and tells her what her evil siblings have been up to, so she digs up his grave, removes his head, and plants it in a pot of basil. Now that’s what I call commitment. The painting is downright melancholy and the story behind it so tragic and dare I say romantic, that Anna and I both made a beeline straight for the gift shop and scoured the shelves until I found a postcard printed with the image. Eureka! The freaky basil painting was mine.

Last weekend I planted a small herb garden in a window box on my balcony. Now every time I look at that towering green basil blowing in the breeze I think of Isabella. And now so can you…aren’t you happy I told you about it? Be on the look out for herbtastic filled recipes in the weeks ahead, and I can assure you that CK’s head will not be coming in contact with any Miracle-Gro like substances at any point in the future. As long as he keeps doing those dishes of course. On that note, what’s your favorite non pesto basil recipe? Let me know in the comments.

For Christmas I bought my mother an adorable window gardening kit from Red Envelope.  In fact, I thought it was too cute to pass up so I ended up purchasing one for my own use as well.  Last Monday I finally got my act together enough to plant the seeds and as you can see below I’m pretty excited about their progress.   Unfortunately I wasn’t paying attention and I planted the Chives in the Oregano pot and the Oregano in the Chives pot. Oh well. At least the Basil is correct.  After they get a little more hearty I’ll transfer them to my window box so I can hopefully grow a gigantic “forest” of fresh herbs all summer long.

Day 1

Day 6