Cannelloni are among the best-known Italian pasta shapes. The name of this popular pasta comes from the Italian word “canna,” which means “tube.” The pasta is shaped like a cylindrical tube, is between eight and ten centimeters long, and has a diameter of about 3 centimeters. Cannelloni therefore means “little tubes.” This durum wheat pasta is made by rolling cooked sheets of dough into tubes. Once dried, cannelloni are also sold as ready-to-use tubes.

Chef Nicola Federico invented cannelloni in Sorrento in 1907. Sorrento is a charming coastal town in southwestern Italy, located on the Bay of Naples on the Sorrento Peninsula. It was at the small, popular local restaurant “La Favorita” that chef Nicola Federico first created this famous pasta dish.

To do so, he prepared flat squares of pasta, similar to lasagna sheets, placed a filling in the center, and rolled them into small tubes (the Italian word for “tube” is “cannelloni”). The stuffed tubes were then placed in a baking dish and baked. Cannelloni immediately became a celebrated dish at the small Sorrento restaurant and spread from there throughout Italy.

Since then, cannelloni have been filled with various ingredients, placed in a baking dish, and baked with béchamel or tomato sauce. Today, popular fillings include a spinach-ricotta mixture or a ground meat ragù. In the central Italian region of Marche and the neighboring region of Umbria, fresh cannelloni made with eggs is a specialty.

There are numerous recipes for cannelloni fillings. The classic filling for cannelloni is a ragù made with ground meat, but other fillings—such as spinach and ricotta—are also popular. In Piedmont, cannelloni alla piemontese are served with spinach, meat, and pancetta. In the area around Naples, a filling made with ham, mozzarella, and ricotta is popular, and in Abruzzo, east of Rome, you’ll find cannelloni all’abbruzzese filled with sausage or ground meat and pecorino.

Here we’ll introduce you to two popular fillings for Italian cannelloni:

• Recipe for Sorrentine-Style Stuffed Cannelloni
• Recipe for Stuffed Cannelloni with Spinach

Step 1
: Heat the olive oil in a skillet and sauté the meat until golden brown and the onion until translucent. Deglaze the mixture with the broth and let it reduce. Add the tomato paste, salt, basil, and water, and braise the meat until it falls apart. Stir in the ricotta, mozzarella, and Parmesan.

Step 2
Now cook the pasta squares in batches in the water. When the pasta pieces rise to the surface, remove them with a slotted spoon and let them drain.

Step 3
: Fill the pasta with the meat pieces, place the cannelloni in the baking dish, and pour the remaining liquid portion of the meat sauce over them. Sprinkle the remaining Parmesan on top and bake the cannelloni in the oven at 200° C for 15–20 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling.

Ingredients

• 100 ml extra virgin olive oil
• 350 g lean beef or pork, cut into small cubes
• 1 onion, chopped
• 70 ml broth
• 350 g ORO di Parma tomato paste, triple-concentrated
• a pinch of salt
• 1 handful of basil, leaves picked
• 100 ml water
• 350 g ricotta
• 150 g mozzarella, cut into pieces
• 70 g Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
• 12 fresh pasta squares

Ingredients

• 450 g fresh spinach
• 300 g ricotta cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1 clove of garlic
• 15 g extra virgin olive oil
• 100 g grated Parmigiano Reggiano
• 1 pinch of grated nutmeg
• freshly ground black pepper
• a pinch of sea salt
• Flour, sifted
• milk
• Butter
• 12 fresh pasta squares

Step 1:
First, pour the oil into a pan, add the garlic, and sauté it over medium heat. Wash the spinach and let it drain well, then place it in a saucepan and cook it covered in salted water over low heat for 3 minutes, until tender. Let it cool after cooking, and in the meantime, prepare the béchamel sauce.

Step 2:
To make the béchamel sauce, start by heating the milk. Then add the butter to a pan and let it melt. Next, add the sifted flour and stir quickly. After a few minutes, you’ll have a roux; remove it from the heat for a moment and pour in the hot milk while stirring. While stirring constantly, add a pinch of salt, a little pepper, and some grated nutmeg to the sauce. Continue cooking over medium heat for 5–6 minutes until the desired consistency is reached.

Step 3:
Chop the cooled spinach with a kitchen knife. Now add the spinach, ricotta, and eggs to a large bowl and mix everything together with a fork. Add salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and mix everything well. Finally, add the grated cheese and mix it into the remaining ingredients.

Step 4:
Cook the pasta squares in batches in the water. When the pasta pieces rise to the surface, remove them with a slotted spoon and let them drain.

Step 5:
Fill the pasta squares with the spinach-ricotta filling and roll them into cannelloni. Then pour some béchamel sauce into a baking dish and layer the cannelloni on top. Finally, pour the remaining béchamel sauce over the cannelloni and bake the casserole at about 200° C for 20–25 minutes. During the last 5 minutes, turn on the broiler and let the cannelloni brown.