Meat cannelloni are one of the perfect dishes for Sunday lunches with the family. They say that this type of pasta is one of the best known ever. In the central regions of Italy, especially in Emilia, it was common to form rectangles of dough that were then stuffed with meat or vegetables and rolled up into a cylinder shape. Even today, cannelloni are made with a mixture of flour and eggs that are then rolled out into small sheets and filled with various fillings, mainly of meat but not only. The pasta is then covered with a tomato sauce and plenty of Parmigiano Reggiano, then baked in the oven until the surface becomes golden and crispy. Like many other stuffed pastas, meat cannelloni also acquire more flavor if eaten the day after preparation.
Fresh egg pasta to start with
The base of meat cannelloni is a sheet of fresh pasta made according to tradition, with flour and eggs, kneaded for a long time and left to rest for an hour before being flattened with the pasta roller. The doses should be one egg for every 2/3 cup of flour. Once you start mixing the eggs and flour, make sure that the dough is the right consistency. If it’s too soft and “wet,” add a little more flour, but if it’s too dry and difficult to work, add a little water at room temperature. The mixture should be worked vigorously for at least 10 minutes so that the gluten mesh is formed.
The recipe for cannelloni stuffed with meat
Ingredients:
For the pasta: 11 oz flour type 00, 3 eggs.
For the filling : 1 rib of celery, 3 carrots, 1 onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 7 oz ground beef, 5 oz sausage, 1 egg, extra-virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, nutmeg, half a glass of red wine.
For the sauce: 17 oz tomato puree, 1 clove of garlic, extra-virgin olive oil, salt, fresh basil.
For béchamel (optional): 2 ½ oz butter, 1 oz flour, 2 cups milk, nutmeg, salt.
Method:
First, form a fountain with the flour and then add the eggs and begin to knead until you get a smooth and uniform mixture.
Make a ball of it, cover it with film and leave it to rest for 1 hour in the fridge.
Prepare the sauce now.
Fry the garlic in a little oil in a pan and then add the tomato sauce and a pinch of salt.
Cook for 15 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Scent with a basil leaf and set aside. Now prepare the béchamel.
Put the butter in a pan, melt it and then add the flour. Mix well with a whisk and then slowly add the milk, salt, and nutmeg.
Continue stirring until the cream thickens.
Now comes the filling: sweat the finely chopped onion and garlic in a little oil.
Add the chopped celery, carrots and then the minced meat.
Remove the sausage’s casing, break up the meat with your hands, and add it to the fried onions.
Add the wine, salt, pepper, nutmeg and cook for 15 minutes.
Off the heat, add the egg and mix well.
Take the pasta from the fridge, divide it in half and start to roll it out with the pasta roller until you get sheets that are 2 mm thick.
Cut it into 6 x 2¾ inch rectangles that you will blanch one by one for a few seconds in a saucepan with salted water.
Roll out the sheets on a cloth, stuff them with a little filling and roll them upon themselves.
Butter a baking pan, arrange the cannelloni one at a time, cover with the tomato sauce and, if you want, with the béchamel sauce.
Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and bake at 340°F for 15 minutes.