Cannelloni Di Carne

Method, instructions, and recipe from Manuela Zangara via Daring Cook’s website.

For the egg pasta:
Put the flour and eggs in a food processor and mix. When the dough looks like crumbs, place it onto a countertop sprinkled with a little flour. Knead well by hand until you obtain a smooth dough. Roll into a ball, wrap it in cling wrap and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.

After resting, cut out a piece of egg pasta dough and flatten it into a rectangular shape with your hands. Put a little flour on it and begin passing it though the pasta machine.

Turn the dial to the widest setting (#1) and, starting with one of the shorter sides of the rectangle, feed it through the rollers. Now fold one side of the piece of dough into the middle, then fold the other side over that to form 3 layers. Starting with one of the narrower sides of the folded dough, feed the pasta through the machine, again at the widest setting. Repeat the folding and rolling technique on the widest setting at least a couple of times.

Turn the dial to the next narrowest setting (# 2). Roll the pasta through the machine without folding the dough between settings. Keep reducing the settings until #7 (about 1 mm thick). If the sheet of pasta gets too long, you can cut it in half with a knife.

To make cannelloni shape, cut out rectangular pasta sheets (4”x6”).

For the bechamel sauce:
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the flour, stir until smooth. Mix into butter until mixture turns a light golden color. Pour in the hot milk, 1 cup at a time, into the butter/flour mixture, all the while whisking until smooth. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 5- 7 minutes on medium-low heat. Remove. Stir in salt and pepper.

For the meat filling:
Heat oil in pan over medium heat. Place onions, garlic and chili flakes and saute over medium until onions are translucent and garlic is soft. Add both meats, break down with wooden spoon, and brown.

Increase flame, pour in wine and let boil. Add bay leaf. Simmer on medium flame for 10 minutes.

Mix in cheese and bechamel, salt, pepper to taste. Take off heat and allow to cool.

For the tomato sauce:
Place extra virgin olive oil in a pot with the chopped onion and saute onions until soft and translucent. Saute in garlic and cayenne. Add the tomato puree, salt, pepper and parsley. Cover it and cook it on a low flame for 20 minutes. Then set it aside to cool down.

For the assembly:
Boil the pasta sheets in salted water until done, 3 minutes. Drain pasta.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Take a rectangular 9X13 oven proof dish to place in all your rolled cannelloni side by side in one layer.

Place some of the tomato sauce on the bottom of casserole. Take a sheet of pasta and put in 1/8 of filling along length of pasta. Roll over into a cylinder to make cannelloni. Repeat with remaining pasta sheets.

Place all rolled cannelloni, seam side down, in casserole dish, side by side in one layer. Cover with rest of tomato sauce and remaining bechamel. Top with mozarella and provolone slices.

Bake for 20 minutes. Then broil for an additional 5 minutes, until top is golden brown.