Cannelloni (Italy)
Here’s a pasta dish from Naples, a city in southern Italy. Another famous food from Naples—pizza. Both dishes, you’ll notice, are made with tomato sauce, the hallmark of southern Italian cooking. Maybe that’s because the hot sun and rich volcanic soil around Naples produce the world’s best tasting tomatoes.
Ingredients for the sauce
1 small carrot, grated
4 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes
salt and pepper
Ingredients for the filling
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup diced mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup chopped cooked spinach (you can use defrosted frozen spinach)
1 egg yolk
salt and pepper
1 box no-boil lasagna noodles (I recommend the Barilla brand)
Equipment you’ll need
Can opener
Grater
Cutting board and knife
Measuring cup and spoon
Mixing bowl and spoon
Medium-sized pot
Baking dish
- Cut the whole tomato into pieces or break them up with your hands by squeezing them over a bowl so they fall apart.
- In a medium-sized pot, sauté the carrot in the olive oil for a few minutes. Add the garlic, stir for a minute then add the tomatoes. Simmer for 45 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
- Soak 8 lasagna noodles in a bowl of hot water for 20 minutes or until they’re soft. Drain. Cut each noodle in half to make a square.
- While the noodles are soaking, combine all the ingredients for the filling in a mixing bowl. Stir well. Season with a pinch of salt and a little pepper.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- To make the cannelloni, take a noodle square and spread a heaping tablespoon of filling along one edge. Roll up like a cigar. Continue making cannelloni until you’ve used up all the filling.
- Spread a few tablespoons of tomato sauce on the bottom of your baking dish and lay the cannelloni on top of it, seam side down. Spoon some more sauce over the cannelloni. Sprinkle with a little parmesan cheese if you’d like. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until the sauce is bubbly.
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