Steps

• Per prepare the Sicilian cannelloni with ground meat, boil a potato with the skin in lightly salted water. Once cooked, remove the potato from the water, peel it, and mash it with a fork.

  Blend the breadcrumbs (moistened with a tablespoon of water) with parsley.

  

• Knead the ground beef and pork sausage with breadcrumbs, mashed potato, two eggs, and grated Parmesan cheese. No need to add salt.

  If using simple ground pork instead of sausage, season the meatballs with a little salt and black pepper.

  

• Form medium-sized meatballs and, if desired, fry them lightly.

  I usually prefer cooking them directly in the sauce for a lighter result.

  

• In a large, thick-bottomed pan, sauté the chopped onion, carrot, and celery in about 6 tablespoons of olive oil.

  

• Then, add a little water and blend everything to make the vegetables a purée. An immersion blender is very convenient in this case.

  

• Add the tomato puree, bay leaf, black pepper, tomato paste, and about half a liter of water. Once boiling, add salt and lower the heat.

  Cook for about twenty minutes.

  

• If the sauce is slightly acidic, add half a tablespoon of sugar. The use of carrot in the sauté already greatly reduces acidity. Now gently place the meatballs in the cooking sauce, laying them with a spoon and avoiding overlapping.

  Let them cook for about an hour after it has come back to a boil, avoiding moving the meatballs too much to keep them intact.

  The sauce at the end of cooking should neither be too thick nor too liquid.

  

• If needed, thin the sauce during cooking with a little water. Before turning off the heat, adjust the salt, then let it cool.

  

• Meanwhile, in a small pot, prepare the béchamel according to the ingredients listed in this recipe and follow the procedure found by clicking here.

  

• At this point, hard-boil the eggs for about 7-8 minutes, then cool them by dipping them in cold water. Cut each egg into four wedges and then cut the wedges in half.

  Dice the aged caciocavallo (or mild provola).

  Now proceed to assemble the cannelloni.

  I used dry cannelloni, but you can also use fresh lasagna sheets, cutting them to size and rolling them on themselves.

  However, fresh sheets should be blanched for a few minutes in lightly salted water, with the addition of two or three tablespoons of olive oil.

  Then pass them in cold water and, waiting to use them, place them on a clean, unscented kitchen towel.

  

• Crumble the meatballs, sprinkle them with a few tablespoons of sauce, and dust with grated Parmesan cheese.

  Spread sauce on the bottom of a baking dish.

  

• Fill the cannelloni with pieces of meatballs, a bit of sauce, cheese pieces, egg, and béchamel. Repeat this order a couple of times to fill a cannelloni.

  
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• Begin and end each single cannelloni with the crumbled meatballs.

  Press the meat slightly at both ends to create seals that prevent the other ingredients from coming out during cooking.

  

• Once all the cannelloni are filled, spread sauce over them.

  The sauce should not be dry.

  If it seems excessively thick, add water.

  Especially at the corners to prevent them from drying out, but add very little, as there is always the risk of ending up with a watery dish.

  
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• Top with dollops of béchamel, a few spoonfuls of grated Parmesan cheese, and freshly ground black pepper.

  

• Cover the baking dish with parchment paper and aluminum foil on top and bake at 356°F, in a preheated static oven, for about 25 minutes, placing the dish at a medium-low height.

  

• Then remove the cover, raise the dish level, and turn on the grill function to wait until the surface is well gratinated.

  It will take a few minutes.

  The Sicilian cannelloni with ground meat are now ready.

  Let them cool for at least ten minutes before serving.

  
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