Cannelloni and manicotti are pasta dishes that bring to mind Italy just upon hearing the words. They are essentially the same dish but with slightly different presentations. By most definitions the manicotti is a stuffed shell, where the pasta has been preformed by an extruder. The cannelloni is a stuffed shell that has been rolled.
When you examine the foods of different cultures you will find that there are similarities in preparation though there will be differences in ingredients. The cannelloni predates pasta extruders. It comes from a time when everything was made by hand. The pasta itself would have been rolled out with a rolling pin. The dish itself is similar to the classic enchilada, a filling rolled into a pasta or tortilla covered with sauce and baked.
The dish I made here is a cannelloni using my fresh pasta. I went a little against tradition. Instead of ricotta cheese, which would work quite well in this, I used cottage cheese. But not straight from the container. I went the extra mile to bring it closer to the texture of ricotta.
A dry sauce will still be wet but not liquidy.
Run the cheese through a food processor till it is smooth. Then let drain through a coffee filter and a mesh strainer till excess whey is pressed out (about 2 days in the fridge). The texture and consistency will change and bring an interesting flavor dimension to the dish. This will also work for other instances when ricotta isn’t available.
Keep the pasta from direct contact with pan
The sauce was a fresh vegetable ragout. Ragout is more than just the commercial sauce (spelled Ragu). It is a sauce that is cooked to a sec or demi sec state. This means it is dry or almost dry. In this case it is not as watery as the initial sauce would be.
Cover the cannelloni with the ragout
There really isn’t a recipe for this. It is something you are better playing around with a bit to find what your tastes are. You could easily use a jarred sauce for this and be just fine. I will give the ingredient list so you can see what I was working with when I made it.
Cannelloni:
Pasta
1lb cottage cheese
basil
salt
Fresh Veggie Ragout:
1 small onion
1 carrot
1 zucchini
5 mushrooms
1.5 lb tomatoes
1 clove garlic
Method:
A layer of sauce in the bottom of the pan helps to keep the pasta from sticking to the pan. A single layer of shells works out well.
For the sauce: Start with the carrots. They will take the longest to cook through. Then slowly add in the other veggies adding the tomatoes last. Cook the veggies till al dente. This is not a sauce that is pureed. You want to see the shapes of the veggies still.
Time for a pint…
Yum! And I hate to cook! lol
you do so many other things so well, I think we can let it slide.
Looks delicious but not something I would cook myself. Count me in for eating though!
The eating is usually the best part but after all the work it is the quickest part.
I am so glad I can live my fantasies of ever being a cook vicariously through you 😉
That does save you the trouble of having to clean up. We tend to have quite a few dishes to wash.
I’m a big fan of manicotti. I don’t make it often (too rich) but when I do, I make a meat and cheese one that involves milk soaked bread and egg. I can’t remember where the recipe came from, but I love it. I’ve never tried just cheese or cannelloni, but it always looks so good. I wonder if there is a sweet dish you can make with it.
Cannoli is essentially a version of a sweet cannelloni or manicotti. Mess with the preparation a bit and you can change the finished product into something else.