BAKED STUFFED CANNELLONI are like lasagna: everyone loves them just like lasagna!
They are perfect for Sunday lunch or festive menus such as Easter, Christmas, or New Year’s. Just follow your tastes and the seasonality to fill them, and you’ll bring a sure success to the table besides being practical because it can also be assembled the day before and cooked at the moment.
Like all traditional recipes, there are endless variations: from the classic Ricotta and Spinach Cannelloni to those stuffed with minced meat, fish-based versions, or purely vegetarian ones.
Today, we will prepare Stuffed Cannelloni with Mortadella and Ricotta, a very simple recipe to make using few ingredients that, when put together, can make a difference and please everyone.
Then, it’s up to you to choose whether to use ready-made dry cannelloni for a quicker and more practical version or fresh egg pasta shell cannelloni to roll around the filling, to buy ready or to prepare at home, as grandma used to do for those who are more skilled in the kitchen and have a lot of time to dedicate.
Mortadella Cannelloni with their sweet and delicate flavor are a quick but also very tasty dish, seasoned with tomato purée or white baked with béchamel, they will become a rich and delicious first course of fresh pasta with a delightful filling of fresh ricotta and fragrant mortadella.
So what are you waiting for? Put yourself to the test in the kitchen: success is guaranteed!
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 6
- Cooking methods: Stovetop, Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Energy 313.33 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 13.80 (g) of which sugars 7.15 (g)
- Proteins 15.49 (g)
- Fat 21.25 (g) of which saturated 7.04 (g)of which unsaturated 6.61 (g)
- Fibers 4.25 (g)
- Sodium 1,162.93 (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
- 5.3 oz egg cannelloni (dry)
- 7.1 oz Bologna mortadella
- 8.8 oz ricotta
- 2.5 oz grated parmesan cheese
- 2 cups tomato sauce
- 2.2 lbs San Marzano tomatoes
- 1 carrot (small)
- 1/2 onion
- 2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
- to taste salt
- Some leaves basil
Tools
- Pot
- Food mill
- Baking dish
PROCEDURE
Below are all the steps to make a basil tomato sauce with fresh tomatoes at home. To reduce the time or if you don’t feel like it, you can easily use ready-made purée (you will need about 2 cups).
To prepare the tomato sauce, wash the tomatoes and remove the stem. Cut them in half lengthwise and squeeze out the central part with the seeds. Place the tomatoes in a large pot and let them wilt over low heat for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt, then remove from heat and pass them through the food mill.
Meanwhile, prepare the cannelloni filling. Finely chop the mortadella with a knife and place it in a bowl along with the ricotta and 1 oz of grated parmesan cheese. Mix to get a homogeneous mixture. Do not add salt because the mortadella and parmesan already make the filling savory. If you like, you can add a pinch of freshly ground black pepper.
In the same pot where you cooked the tomatoes, pour a drizzle of oil and add a mince of onion and carrots. Cook for 5 minutes, then pour in the previously milled tomatoes and continue cooking for another 30 minutes over low heat. Turn off the heat, add some basil leaves, mix and let cool slightly before using.
Take the cannelloni and stuff them with the mortadella and ricotta filling until all the ingredients are used. In a baking dish, pour two tablespoons of tomato sauce and spread evenly. Arrange the cannelloni on top until the dish is completely filled. Pour the remaining tomato sauce over the cannelloni surface. Finish by sprinkling with the remaining grated parmesan cheese. Bake at 356 degrees Fahrenheit, preheated static oven for about 30/35 minutes until the surface is well browned. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly before serving.
NOTES
The mortadella cannelloni, as presented in this recipe, are a first course seasoned with tomato sauce where the sauce, left intentionally more liquid, also allows the pasta to cook. If you wish, you can decide to make them white using only béchamel, which in this case must be a bit more liquid than usual and cover the cannelloni completely to allow the pasta to cook without drying out.
STORAGE
You can prepare the mortadella and ricotta stuffed cannelloni the day before and bake them at the last moment. Alternatively, they can be frozen either raw or cooked. If you have leftovers, they can be stored in an airtight container and placed in the fridge for up to 2 days.
