Cannelloni di Carne
Cannelloni aren’t exactly a dish you whip up after work on a weeknight. They are part of a quintessential pranzo della domenica (Sunday lunch), requiring multiple steps while guaranteeing supreme comfort. The filling isn’t weighed down with ricotta or drowned in tomato sauce. It’s a tight, savory mix of ground beef and béchamel, rolled into fresh egg pasta and baked just until the edges bubble and the top goes golden. There are lighter and quicker ways to feed a crowd. But none as satisfying as this.
11 ingredients
Prep: 1 hr 30 mins
Cook: 40 mins
Cannelloni di Carne
Ingredients (11)
Ingredients (11)
For the pasta
For the filling and topping
Instructions
Make the pasta: Pour the flour (1 ⅓ cups) into a large bowl and use your fingers or a spoon to form a large well in the center. Crack the eggs (⅖ cup) into the well and gently beat them together with a fork. Working from the inside of the well to the edges, slowly incorporate the flour into the eggs until a shaggy dough forms.
Turn the dough out onto your work surface and knead until it is supple and glossy, 7 to 8 minutes.
Form into a tight ball, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and set aside to hydrate the flour for 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.
Unwrap the dough and halve, keeping the piece you’re not yet working with covered. Gently press the dough into a rough rectangle using flattened fingertips. Dust lightly with flour, then pass the pressed dough through your pasta machine’s widest setting.
Fold the dough in thirds like a letter. Rotate it 90 degrees and run it through the wide setting again.
Repeat this folding and rolling process twice more to smooth and align the gluten network. Begin reducing the roller setting one notch at a time. Run the dough through each setting once (no more folding) and lightly dust with flour as needed to prevent sticking. Support the sheet with your hands as it lengthens.
Pass the sheet through the machine until it reaches the second-thinnest setting. Set aside on a lightly floured work surface. Cut the pasta into pieces, each about 5 inches long. Set aside on a floured tray and cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel. Repeat with the second piece of dough.
Let the pasta sheets cure, uncovered, for 30 minutes before cooking.
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