Homemade Italian 101 Classic Spinach Cannelloni Recipes

Steps:

• In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat and saute the onion until fragrant and translucent. Add the Italian sausage meat, breaking it up with the back of a wooden spoon and brown it until no longer pink, about 10 to 12 minutes. Drain the excess fat from the sausage meat, and set aside to cool. In a large mixing bowl stir together the drained and squeeze-dried spinach, ricotta, 1 1/2 cups Parmesan, eggs, cooled Italian sausage and onion mixture, salt, and freshly ground black pepper, to taste. Place the oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook the fresh pasta rectangles for 1 minute and remove with a slotted spatula. Set aside. In a 9 by 13-inch baking dish, spread 2 cups tomato sauce. Working with 1 pasta rectangle at a time, spread 6 tablespoons filling along one edge and roll the pasta sheet up tightly, leaving the ends open. Repeat until you have 8 cannelloni. Arrange the prepared cannelloni, seam-side down, in a single layer in the baking dish. Spoon the remaining 2 cups tomato sauce evenly over the cannelloni. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup grated Parmesan over top. Bake the cannelloni for 20 minutes and let it stand for 10 minutes before serving. Serve the cannelloni with extra tomato sauce from the baking dish and garnish with fresh basil.
• To make fresh pasta dough: Mound the flour on a clean work surface. Hollow out the center making a well in the middle of the flour with steep sides. Break the eggs into the well. Add the salt, and olive oil to the hollow center and gently mix together with a fork. Gradually start incorporating the flour by pulling in the flour from the sides of the well. As you incorporate more of the flour, the dough will start to take shape. With your hands or a bench scraper continue working the dough until it comes together. If the dough is too dry, add a little water; if too wet or sticky, add a little flour. Begin kneading the dough and keep kneading until it becomes smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. At this point, set the dough aside, cover it with plastic, and let it rest for 15 to 20 minutes. You can store the dough in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours, but allow it to return to room temperature before rolling it out. Divide the pasta dough into 4 even sections. Keep each section covered with plastic wrap or a clean towel while you work with each one. Flour the dough, the rollers of a pasta roller (or your rolling pin), your hands, and the work surface. If using a pasta machine: Flatten 1 of the of the dough pieces between your hands or with a floured rolling pin until it forms a thick oval disk. Dust the disk, the roller, and your hands with additional flour. Flour a baking sheet to hold the rolled out finished pasta. With the roller on the widest setting, pass the pasta through the machine's rollers a few times until it is smooth. Fold the dough over into 1/3, and continue to pass through a few more times until the pasta is smooth again. Begin adjusting the pasta machine settings to become thinner, passing the dough through a few times at each setting. If rolling the pasta by hand: Flatten a dough piece into a thick oval disk with your hands. Flour a baking sheet for the rolled out finished pasta. Place the oval dough disk on a floured work surface, and sprinkle with additional flour. Begin rolling out the dough with a floured rolling pin working from the center of the dough outwards, constantly moving the dough and lifting it to make sure it's not sticking.
• To make Simple Tomato Sauce: In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, and garlic and cook until soft and golden brown. Add the basil and cook for an additional 3 to 5 minutes. Add the canned tomatoes with their juices and bring to a boil, stirring often. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until the sauce has thickened. With a potato masher, break up the tomatoes to achieve a sauce-like consistency. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and serve. Cook's Note: Tomato sauce will last 1 week in the refrigerator and up to 6 months in the freezer.

Steps:

• To make the sauce, add olive oil to a pressure cooker and heat over medium heat (with the lid off). Add the onions and sauté several minutes, until soft; add remaining ingredients. Bring to boil. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired. Reduce heat, put lid on pressure cooker and seal. Turn heat on high until hear pressure hiss. Turn to medium or just low enough to maintain the flow of steam coming out of the pressure valve. Set timer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest or do 'quick' release method to release steam.
• To make the fresh pasta, add flour to the bowl of a food processor, fitted w/the blade attachment. Beat eggs and oil in bowl and pour over the flour. Place the lid on the food processor and run the machine until combine and sticky consistency, about 15 seconds Dump the dough on floured flat working surface and knead 3 to 4 times. Form into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 20 minutes. When ready to roll out, unwrap dough and knead for 8 to 10 minutes. Cut into quarters, wrap dough back up if not using and set aside. Working with 1/4 of the dough, set up a pasta rolling machine and send dough through the largest setting (1) five times, folding between each turn. Continue to roll through the machine, moving to the next smallest setting each time. Stop when reach desired thickness (setting 8 on my machine). Repeat with remaining dough sections. Will make about 22-24 cannelloni shells. Cut dough into 4" sections and cover with damp towel until ready to fill.
• Pre-heat oven at 350 degrees F. Heat oil in 12-inch skillet, add salt, onion, garlic and spinach and cook until onions and spinach are soft and liquid cooked off. Add onion/spinach mixture to a medium bowl and combine with remaining ingredients stir to reach a smooth consistency. Line the bottom of a greased casserole dish with a portion of the sauce. Fill each shell with 1/4 cup of filling, and roll up. Place in the baking sheet and top with more sauce. Sprinkle Parmesan and bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until hot and bubbling.

Steps:

• Pour the hot stock over the porcini in a small heatproof bowl. Let stand until softened, about 20 minutes. Drain the porcini, reserving the liquid. Rinse the porcini to remove sand and grit, and strain the soaking liquid through a coffee filter or a double thickness of cheesecloth. Reserve the mushrooms and liquid separately.
• Preheat the oven to 400° F. Cut the pork into 2-inch pieces and place them in a roasting pan large enough to hold them comfortably. Add the carrots, celery, onion, rosemary leaves, and the reserved porcini. Season lightly with salt, drizzle 3 tablespoons of the olive oil over all, and toss well. Pour in the wine. Roast until the wine has evaporated and the meat begins to brown, about 25 minutes. Continue roasting, adding 1/2 cup of the reserved mushroom-soaking liquid every 15 minutes or so, until the meat and vegetables are well browned and the meat is tender, about 2 hours. At the end of the roasting, there should be about 1 1/2 cups of liquid in the roasting pan. Drain the meat and vegetables, reserving the liquid. Toss the mortadella in with the meats and vegetables and cool to room temperature.
• Meanwhile, in a wide skillet, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil over medium heat. Whack the garlic with the flat side of a knife, add it to the oil, and cook until lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Add as much spinach as will fit comfortably into the pan. Continue cooking, stirring and adding the remaining spinach a large handful at a time when the spinach in the pan wilts enough to make room, until all the spinach is added. Season lightly with salt and pepper and cook until all the spinach is wilted and tender. Remove from the heat.
• Make the béchamel sauce.
• Pass the meat-and-vegetable mixture through a meat grinder fitted with a disc with holes about 1/4 inch in diameter. Stir in 1/4 cup of the grated cheese and 1/2 cup of the béchamel sauce, blending the filling well as you do. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Beat the eggs until foamy, then stir them into the ground-meat mixture.
• Preheat the oven to 375° F. Ladle about 3/4 cup of the béchamel sauce in an even layer over the bottom of each of two 13 × 9-inch baking dishes. Spoon 1/3 cup of the filling in a more or less even mound along one edge of one of the pasta squares. Roll up into a tube, pressing and evening out the tube as you roll. Arrange the cannelloni into the prepared baking dish, side by side and seam side down. Divide the remaining béchamel evenly between the two baking dishes, smoothing it into an even layer over the cannelloni. Drizzle about three-quarters of the reserved meat-cooking liquid over the cannelloni, dividing it evenly. Sprinkle the tops with 1 cup of the grated cheese. Cover the dishes with aluminum foil and bake 20 minutes. Uncover the baking dishes and bake until the tops are golden brown and bubbling, about 20 minutes. If the tops are browning unevenly, rotate the baking dishes from side to side and shelf to shelf, then continue baking. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Lift the cannelloni to warm plates with a spatula and spoon some of the sauce over each serving. Pass additional grated cheese if you like.

Steps:

• First make the tomato sauce. Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the garlic for 1 min. Add the sugar, vinegar, tomatoes and some seasoning and simmer for 20 mins, stirring occasionally, until thick. Add the basil and divide the sauce between 2 or more shallow ovenproof dishes (see Tips for freezing, below). Set aside. Make a sauce by beating the mascarpone with the milk until smooth, season, then set aside.
• Put the spinach in a large colander and pour over a kettle of boiling water to wilt it (you may need to do this in batches). When cool enough to handle squeeze out the excess water. Roughly chop the spinach and mix in a large bowl with 100g Parmesan and ricotta. Season well with salt, pepper and the nutmeg.
• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Using a piping bag or plastic food bag with the corner snipped off, squeeze the filling into the cannelloni tubes. Lay the tubes, side by side, on top of the tomato sauce and spoon over the mascarpone sauce. Top with Parmesan and mozzarella. You can now freeze the cannelloni, uncooked, or you can cook it first and then freeze. Bake for 30-35 mins until golden and bubbling. Remove from oven and let stand for 5 mins before serving.

Steps:

• Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
• In a large bowl combine the pork mince, ricotta, spinach leaves, eggs, lemon thyme and pepper and mix well.
• Place the pork mixture into a piping bag with a large 4 cm plain tube.
• Lay the lasagne sheets on flat board and cut sheets into 2 or 3 sections depending upon size.
• Pipe the pork mixture onto the centre of each sheet of pasta. Roll to enclose filling. Brush the edge with a little water to seal. Place each roll fold side down in a shallow oven-proof dish in a single layer.
• Pour over the tomato pasta sauce and sprinkle surface with grated mozzarella cheese.
• Bake in the pre-heated oven for 25-30 minutes until cheese is bubbling. Serve hot with crisp garden salad.
• Note:.
• This dish can be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated for 48 hours prior to baking.

Steps:

• In a large skillet over medium heat, warm oil and saute ground beef with the onion, sage and rosemary; cook until meat is evenly browned and crumbly. Drain fat. Add salt and 1/2 cup white wine; cook until wine is evaporated. Set mixture aside.
• To make the Bechamel sauce: Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and stir until well incorporated. Stir in milk and bring to a slow boil until mixture thickens. Remove sauce from the heat. In a steady stream, pour the bechamel in to the beaten egg yolks, whisking constantly. Stir the sauce into the meat mixture. Stir in the cubed mozzarella.
• In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter and saute onion until soft and translucent. Add 1/2 cup white wine and let it cook down to evaporate; add stewed tomatoes and salt. Mix well; simmer for 15 minutes.
• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta, a few at a time, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; using a slotted spoon, remove immediately to a pot filled with cold water. Lift pasta out with slotted spoon and arrange on a flat surface.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.
• Spoon a line of filling into each shell, starting from one end and using your finger to push the filling inside of each shell. Place cannelloni in prepared baking dish and cover with tomato sauce mixture.
• Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes or until heated through; when finished baking, allow to stand for 5 minutes and serve.

Steps:

• Cook spinach according to package instructions and drain well. Squeeze spinach dry by handfuls and chop fine. In a bowl stir together spinach, ricotta, 1 cup Parmesan, eggs, prosciutto, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste.
• Preheat oven to 350°F. and oil a 13-by 9-inch baking dish.
• In a large bowl of cold water soak lasagne squares until softened, about 15 minutes. Drain squares and pat dry between paper towels.
• Spread 1 cup of tomato sauce on bottom of prepared dish. Working with 1 square at a time, spread about 1/3 cup filling along one edge and roll up to enclose filling, leaving ends open.
• Arrange cannelloni as formed, seam sides down, in one layer in dish. Spoon 2 cups sauce evenly over cannelloni, covering them, sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan.
• Bake cannelloni in middle of oven 30 minutes and let stand 10 minutes before serving.
• Serve cannelloni with remaining tomato sauce, heated.