Cannelloni – a close cousin to with manicotti but far more special – makes a spectacular presentation, emerging from the oven all blistered and bubbling. Hidden under a blanket of tangy tomato sauce are rolls of tender homemade pasta, lined with salty prosciutto wrapped around crumbled sweet sausage and silky soft ricotta.
In place of the usual mozzarella, the dish is finished with a thick swath of balsamella sauce (bechamel’s Italian cousin). This “before” photo shows the assembled dish just before going into the oven, and below, the browned and beautiful result.
Making cannelloni is a multi-step process. If you plan to make all the components from scratch, you’ll be making marinara sauce, ricotta cheese, and fresh pasta — all before you even get to the steps outlined in this recipe. The marinara and ricotta can be store-bought to save time. But if you want to do it all, plan to start the day before, and consider this a special occasion dish. It’s worth the effort.
After you roll out the pasta, cut it into squares and arrange the filling. I lay out all the squares on my work surface and dole out all the fillings before I start rolling – that way I know I’m dividing everything evenly and I don’t find myself running out of something by the time I get to the last roll.
Making this ahead and what to do with leftovers:
- The marinara sauce, ricotta cheese, and balsamella sauce can all be made ahead by up to a couple of days. The fresh pasta can be made several hours ahead. The entire dish, up to and including covering the cannelloni with marinara sauce (before spreading on the balsamella) can be made ahead – early in the day or even the night before. Cover the dish with foil and chill it until you’re ready to bake, then pour on the balsamella and proceed. Add 5 minutes to the foil-covered baking time to accommodate for the fact that the dish is going in cold.
- As is the case with many baked pastas, leftovers are almost better than the original, simply reheated in the microwave or in a 300-degree oven.
To see this dish as part of a menu, and for a complete game plan including timing for all dishes, see my post for Saturday, November 9, 2019.
Cannelloni
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for the dish(es)
- 8 ounces sweet Italian sausage
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole milk
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Dash of nutmeg
- 7 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, divided
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 1 large egg yolk
- 3 cups marinara sauce
- Eight 5-inch squares of fresh egg pasta
- 4 thin slices of prosciutto, cut in half crosswise into 8 pieces
Directions
- Step 1 Make the marinara sauce and ricotta cheese or use store bought for these.
- Step 2 Make the pasta dough, up to the point where you’ve rolled it out to the second-to-last degree of thinness. Let the pasta sheets rest, covered with a dish towel, while preparing the remaining elements of the dish.
- Step 3 Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly oil a 9×13-inch baking dish, or 4 individual baking dishes, with olive oil.
- Step 4 Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the sausage in the oil, crumbling it with the back of a spoon. Remove the sausage to a plate lined with paper towels to drain. Once it’s cool, finely chop the sausage. Set it aside.
- Step 5 To make the balsamella sauce: Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Meanwhile, heat the milk in the microwave on High for 2 minutes. Whisk the flour into the butter and cook, whisking, for 2 minutes until the mixture is foamy. Whisk in the hot milk. Cook the mixture, whisking constantly, until it comes to a simmer. Remove it from the heat, season with salt and pepper, and add the nutmeg and 4 tablespoons of the Parmesan. Whisk until the cheese is melted and the mixture is smooth. Whisk in the heavy cream. Set the sauce aside.
- Step 6 Combine the ricotta with the egg yolk and the remaining 3 tablespoons of the Parmesan. Set it aside.
- Step 7 Ladle ¾ cup of the marinara sauce into the baking dish or dishes, and spread it out to a thin layer.
- Step 8 To assemble the cannelloni: Cut the sheets of pasta into eight 5-inch squares, reserving any excess for another use. Arrange the pasta squares on your work surface. Lay one piece of prosciutto on each pasta square. Spoon 1/8 of the ricotta mixture along the near edge of each square, and top it with 1/8 of the sausage. Roll up each square of pasta to enclose the filling, and place the rolls in the baking dish or dishes, seam side down.
- Step 9 Spoon the remaining marinara over the cannelloni. Drizzle the balsamella sauce down the center of the row of cannelloni.
- Step 10 Cover the dish tightly with foil. Bake the cannelloni for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 20 minutes more, until the cannelloni is hot and bubbling. Turn on the broiler and broil for 2 or 3 minutes until the balsamella sauce is browned in spots.
- Step 11 Let the cannelloni sit for 10 minutes before serving.
