Cannelloni

5 from 1 vote

Cannelloni consists of fresh pasta rolled into sheets and then cut into squares. Those squares are filled with ricotta and spinach and rolled up. Then it’s layered with a white bechamel sauce, tomato sauce and baked with cheese until bubbly and delicious.

Prep Time1 20

Cook Time20

Total Time1 40

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Italian

Diet: Vegetarian

Servings:

Author: Adrianna Adarme

Cost: $12

Equipment

1 rolling pin OR pasta roller

Ingredients

Pasta:

275 grams 00 flour
3 large eggs

Bechamel Sauce:

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups milk
4 mint leaves
Zest from 1 lemon

Ricotta:

2 cups spinach leaves
250 grams ricotta well drained
1/2 cup parmesan-reggiano finely grated (about 1 ounce)
Kosher salt
Nutmeg

Topping:

2 ounces Parmesan-Reggiano grated
5 ounces canned cherry tomatoes (or use your favorite jarred sauce)

Instructions

To Make the Homemade Pasta:

Pour the flour onto your work surface and make a mound. Create a well in the center. Crack in the eggs into the well and whisk them until combined. Slowly incorporated the flour, and keep mixing. When it’s all mixed with the eggs, start kneading the dough until a ball forms. Keep kneading for about 5 to 7 minutes, until it’s a smooth cohesive ball.
Cover with a bowl or plastic wrap and allow to rest on the counter for 20 minutes. This will relax the gluten. In the meantime, you can move to the other steps if you like.
When the dough has finished resting, cut it into four equal pieces. Roll the dough through your pasta maker about three to four times, decreasing the setting each time (this will make the pasta thinner each time). You should be able to place a newspaper behind the sheet of pasta and read the newspaper. It should be THAT thin.
If you don’t own a pasta maker, then you can always roll it with a floured rolling pin. It takes some muscle but it’s absolutely doable.
Cut the dough into 6x4-inch rectangles that almost look like squares. Repeat this process until you’ve worked through all of the dough. Cover with a damp clean kitchen towel and let them sit until you’re ready to boil them.
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, drop in the sheets of pasta and cook for about 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a bed of clean kitchen towels and work your way through all of the pasta.

To Make the Bechamel Sauce:

In a small saucepan, set over medium heat, add the butter. When melted, pour in the flour and mix until it forms a cohesive mixture. Cook it for about 1 minute. Pour in the milk and mix until it becomes thick and coats the back of a spoon. Turn off the heat and add in the minced mint, lemon zest and add a few pinches of salt. Give it a taste and adjust the salt to your liking. Set aside.

To Make the Filling;

Wilt the spinach in a non-stick skillet over medium-low heat. When it’s wilted, add it to a bed of paper towels and squeeze out any excess water. Chop it up and add it to a bowl with the ricotta, parmesan and a few pinches of salt. You want it to be well seasoned because the pasta has zero salt.

To Assemble the Cannelloni:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Add a few tablespoons of the bechamel sauce to a baking dish. Any size of baking dish works. This makes a good amount so break out different ones (whatever you have). To a sheet of the pasta, add a few teaspoons of the filling. Roll it up and add it to the baking dish. Repeat until you’ve worked through all of the pasta sheets.
Spoon a few tablespoons more on top of the pasta. And then add the jarred sauce and/or cherry tomatoes. Sprinkle on the Parmesan-Reggiano. Transfer to the oven to bake for 15-20 minutes, until the pasta is bubbly and delicious looking. Top with some fresh basil and enjoy.

To Freeze:

Cover the baking dish tightly with plastic wrap. And then wrap it in foil (this makes sure any freezer smells don’t get into the pasta itself). Transfer to the freezer and freeze for up to 6 months.
To bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. And bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Notes

Tips and Tricks

Use jarred sauce. I use jarred cherry tomatoes that are in a sauce. No need to make that fresh.
Frozen spinach. The fresh spinach can be frozen, just let it thaw and drain it first to get rid of all the excess water.
Make the bechamel ahead. You can make the bechamel up to 3 days ahead; just store in the fridge in an airtight container.
Use dried manicotti pasta tubes. Zero shame in this route lol.

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