Cannelloni

Pasta tubes piped full and baked under béchamel until the top blisters.

Egg. Not vegetarian — contains parmesan whose rennet the source does not name, ricotta whose rennet the source does not name.

Ingredients

Pasta

• 400 g plain flour and 4 eggs, worked to a dough and rested 30 minutes

Filling

• 500 g ricotta, drained
• 400 g spinach, wilted and squeezed very dry
• 80 g parmesan, grated
• 1 egg
• nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon salt

Béchamel

• 60 g butter
• 60 g plain flour
• 800 ml milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Method

1. Roll the pasta thin and cut rectangles about 10 by 14 cm. Blanch them 40 seconds and lay them flat on a damp cloth.
2. Squeeze the spinach until no more water comes out at all, then chop it and mix it with the ricotta, parmesan, egg, nutmeg and salt.
3. PIPE THE FILLING, do not spoon it. A piping bag lays an even sausage down the sheet in one movement; a spoon gives you thick and thin patches that cook unevenly and burst the roll.
4. Roll each sheet round its filling and lay them seam down in a buttered dish, touching but not squashed.
5. Make the béchamel: melt the butter, stir the flour in and cook 2 minutes, then add the milk a little at a time, whisking, and cook until it coats a spoon.
6. Pour it over so every tube is covered. Any pasta left exposed will dry to cardboard.
7. Bake at 190C for 35 minutes until blistered and brown on top. Rest 10 minutes before serving — this is the only one of the filled pastas that goes in an oven, and it needs the same settling a lasagne does.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes