To Italy with Love

Passport & Plate - Cannelloni

Canada | Friday, March 14, 2014 | 1 photos

Passport & Plate - Cannelloni - Erin Rowsell Ingredients
Filling:
2 Tbs Olive Oil
1/2 cup finely cut onions
1 tsp garlic
1 pkg fresh spinach; finely chopped
2 Tbs butter
1 pound hamburger
5 Tbs Parmesan Cheese
2 Tbs Heavy Cream
2 Eggs beaten
1/2 tsp Oregano
salt and pepper to taste

Tomato Sauce:
2 Tbs Olive Oil
1/2 cup onions chopped
2 cans tomatoes (796 grams)
3 Tbs tomato paste
1 Tbs fresh basil; 1 teaspoon dried basil
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
Ground pepper to taste

Pasta:
1.5 cups flour
1 Tbs olive oil
1 egg
1 egg white
1 tsp salt
water as needed

Bechamel Sauce
4 Tbs butter
4 Tbs flour
1 cup milk
1 cup whipping cream
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp white pepper

 

How to prepare this recipe
Filling:
To olive oil, add onions and garlic, cook until soft but not brown. Stir in spinach for about 5 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl. In pan melt 2 Tbs butter, add hamburger and lightly brown breaking up any lumps. Add to spinach mixture also add cheese, eggs and oregano, salt and pepper.

Tomato Sauce:
Cook onions in olive oil, then add other ingredients. Simmer for about forty minutes and season to taste.

Pasta:
Mix together with a fork or fingers into a rough ball. Knead for about ten minutes or until smooth and shiny. Wrap in wax paper and let it rest for 10 minutes. Roll out to paper thin, cut into 36 rectangles 2" x 3". Add cut pieces to boiling salted water, drop in pieces of dough. Cook over high heat until pasta is tender but not too soft (usually 5 minutes). Spread on paper towels to dry. This is the hardest par of making this recipe, have someone help you. Doubling makes 75!

When the pasta is cool enough put one Tbs of the meat mixture in and roll up. In a large pan, cover the bottom of the pan with the tomato sauce, put rolls on top close together. This is frozen twelve hours before serving.

When it is unfrozen put it in the oven at 375 degrees in the middle of oven for 20 minutes. Take out and put Bechamel on top. Pour the sauce over the cannelloni, sprinkle with 4 Tbs of parmesan cheese, dot with butter; return to oven, when the sauce is bubbling it is done.

 

The story behind this recipe
When you are from Newfoundland, food is everything. A province full of rural and isolated communities, people depend on each other for sustenance and nourishment. We left Newfoundland when I was young. My mom had a best friend who had different roots than us. They moved close to us and were always like a second family, her children became our brothers and sisters. Their grandpa was an amazingly sweet man from Malta… Mr. Preziosi. He was an amazing cook. After moving to Canada and meeting their Grandma in Montreal, they would come and visit us in rural New Brunswick every Christmas. It was a tradition, every year for both families to get together and when we were young, our parents spent the day in the kitchen with Mr. and Mrs. Preziosi. They were making homemade cannelloni. As we grew, we helped in the kitchen, and as a Newfie Canadian, the first thing I ever learned to make was homemade pasta. This recipe is scrumptious. It melts in your mouth as if the whole dish is nothing but fresh cream and butter. Those nights are my fondest childhood memories, as they are where I learned that food and more importantly cooking together births laughter, tears and love. This tradition instilled a passion for food and culture in the depths of my being. Mr Preziosi has since passed and cooking this dish for others helps us carry on his memory. We make this recipe still as a family even though we are spread across the country. We make it for our friends and new family and share it as much as we can, hoping for more laughter, tears and love.