The puffed pasta cannoli with seirass mousse is a tantalizing finger food served with a delicious bell pepper cream. Perfect as an appetizer or aperitif for a summer dinner.
I had already used the puffed pasta method in this recipe and it’s an original way to recycle leftover pasta, boiling it again to then dry it in the oven and fry it afterward. It gives you crunchy bases to pair with various mousses and creams.
The seirass is a type of very dry and creamy ricotta typical of Val di Susa, but if you can’t find this type of ricotta, you can opt for fine-grained ricotta left to dry overnight in a cloth suspended over a bowl and placed in the fridge. Then squeeze the cloth well to recover the ricotta, which should be very dry.
Craving an aperitif? Here are more tantalizing ideas:
- Difficulty: Difficult
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 4/6 servings
- Cooking methods: Stove
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Summer
- Energy 243.81 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 10.88 (g) of which sugars 3.39 (g)
- Proteins 5.59 (g)
- Fat 19.88 (g) of which saturated 3.81 (g)of which unsaturated 6.40 (g)
- Fibers 1.08 (g)
- Sodium 723.90 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 100 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for Puffed Pasta Cannoli with Seirass Mousse and Bell Pepper Cream
- 12 paccheri
- 7.05 oz ricotta (seirass)
- 7.05 oz bell peppers
- 0.42 cup whipping cream
- 1 tsp honey
- 2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 pinch cinnamon powder
- to taste salt
- to taste peanut oil (for frying)
Tools
- 1 Immersion Blender
- 1 Electric Mixer
- 1 Pastry Bag
Preparation of Puffed Pasta Cannoli with Seirass Mousse and Bell Pepper Cream
To prepare the puffed pasta cannoli, cook the paccheri in salted boiling water for double the time indicated on the package.
When the pasta is ready, drain it well, place all the paccheri vertically on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, and insert a small roll of aluminum foil in each; this will help the paccheri maintain their shape to be later filled like cannoli. Let them dry in a ventilated oven at 140°F (60°C) for 5 hours, removing the aluminum foil roll when the pasta appears stiff (the pasta must be very dry, otherwise the trapped water will cause the oil to splatter during frying).
In the meantime, clean the bell peppers, cut them into pieces, and sauté them in a pan with a drizzle of EVO oil and salt. When the peppers are cooked, deglaze with apple cider vinegar and season with a pinch of cinnamon.
Remove the peppers from the heat and blend them using an immersion blender until smooth.
In a bowl, work the seirass with honey until creamy, then whip the cream and gently fold it into the seirass without deflating it. Place the seirass mousse in a pastry bag with a ridged nozzle and store it in the fridge.
When the pasta is well dried, fry it in plenty of hot oil for a couple of minutes, until golden and bubbly. Drain the puffed pasta cannoli obtained on a paper towel and let them cool.
When serving, fill each puffed pasta cannoli with the seirass mousse and serve them on a layer of bell pepper cream placed on the plate.
The Extra Idea
If you wish, you can give the dish more flavor by sprinkling each cannoli with a pinch of celery powder. To prepare it, do as follows: take only the leaves from a bunch of celery, wash and dry them thoroughly.
Dry the celery leaves together with the pasta in the oven, and when they are well dried, blend them in a mixer until they become powder (if necessary, sift it to retain only the finest part).
This celery powder can be kept in a well-sealed glass jar for several weeks and can be used to flavor sauces, pasta, and soups.
