Succulents lasagnairresistible baked potatoes and the inevitable Meatloaf they are all typical Sunday dishes, to which are added the timeless cannelloni. These succulent cylinders of pasta stuffed with a mix of meat and sausage, topped with bechamel and tomato they are a first course typical Emilian. Rich and delicious, cannelloni are perfect for special occasions, for example for Easterperhaps in a vegetarian version with eggplant or spinach! We’ve all tasted them at least once in our lives. Of course, the idea of cannelloni prepared by our grandmothers brings back beautiful memories… following our advice and with a little patience you will be able to obtain a dish that will win over all your guests, worthy of grandmother’s approval! Prepare them for yours too Christmas menu!
Read the recipe in English
To prepare the cannelloni, start with the sauce. Clean and finely chop celery, carrot and onion 1. Then remove the sausage casing and chop with a knife 2. At this point move to the stove. Pour the sausage into the hot saucepan with a drizzle of oil 3 and let it cook well.
When it is golden brown, add the chopped vegetables 4 and stir, let it stew for 5-6 minutes. Add the ground beef pulp 5, stir and raise the heat. Let it brown slowly. Deglaze with the red wine 6 and mix again.
As soon as the alcohol has evaporated, add the tomato puree 7. Stir to incorporate it and rinse the container with a little water to collect the remainder; then salted. Cover with the lid 8 with a small vent and cook for an hour. Check from time to time. Meanwhile, make the egg pasta. Pour the flour into a bowl and add the lightly beaten egg 9.
Work the dough with your hands 10 until the ingredients are combined. Then transfer the dough to a pastry board 11 and work it again until you obtain a smooth and homogeneous, firm and elastic compound, which you will give a spherical shape 12. At this point, wrap it in cling film and let it rest for about 1 hour in a cool, dry place in order to acquire the right elasticity.
Prepare the bechamel. First you need to heat the milk, flavored with nutmeg and salt 13. In another pan, pour the butter 14 and let it melt completely. At this point add the sifted flour and mix quickly 15.
After a couple of minutes you will get a hazelnut-colored roux, remove from the heat for a moment and pour the milk, now hot. 16 . Stir continuously and wait for the béchamel sauce to become thick but fluid 17, about 4-5 minutes. Transfer the béchamel sauce into a glass bowl and cover with cling film 18. Once cold, if it turns out to be too thick, dilute it with a little milk.
Take back your egg pasta stick 19 which will have rested and reached the right elasticity and divide it in two. Pull each part of dough with the sheeter machine 20 starting from the widest width to the narrowest one. You will get a sheet about 2 mm thick. In the absence of the pasta stretching machine, you can roll out the dough by hand, using a lightly floured rolling pin. Cut out 8 rectangles 10X14 cm 21.
Once you have obtained your pasta rectangles, scald them one at a time for about 1 minute in boiling water 22, lightly salted. Drain them and transfer them to a tray where you will have placed a kitchen cloth, it is important to spread the various rectangles perfectly without overlapping them 23, if you prefer you can pass them in cold water to stop the cooking. In the meantime the ragu will be ready and cooled down 24keep aside 250 g.
Add the grated cheese to the remaining ragout 25 and flavored with pepper 26. Mix 27 and place in the refrigerator.
Take a rectangle of pasta and stuff it with the ragu on one side only 28, leaving a couple of cm from the edge of the wide part. Then roll up the sheet on itself 29. Seal the dough to form cylinders 30.
Distribute a couple of tablespoons of bechamel on the bottom of a baking dish 28 from 20×30 cm 31. Place your cannelloni. Cover them with the remaining bechamel and the 250 g of ragout kept aside, 15 g of grated cheese 32 and cook in a preheated static oven at 200° for 15 minutes on the medium shelf and 5 minutes at 240°, in grill mode, on the slightly higher shelf, until a golden crust is obtained. You just have to serve your cannelloni still hot 33!
