Homemade Cannelloni with Spinach Ricotta Filling - flour

Method

• Note: this recipe requires a pasta maker
• For the pasta dough:
• Put the flour and egg in a food processor and mix.
• When the dough starts to resemble crumbs, place it on a cutting board that youve dusted with a little bit of flour.
• Knead it by hand until your dough is smooth.
• Form it into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.
• To make the pasta: cut out 1/8 of the dough and flatten it into a rectangular shape with your hands.
• Put a little flour on it and begin passing it though the pasta machine.
• Turn the dial to the widest setting and, starting with one of the shorter sides of the rectangle, feed it through the rollers.
• Now fold one side of the piece of dough into the middle, then fold the other side over that.
• Starting with one of the narrower sides of the folded dough, feed the pasta through the machine, again at the widest setting.
• Repeat the folding and rolling technique on the widest setting for a couple of times.
• Then roll the dough through the next smaller setting.
• Roll the pasta through the machine without folding the dough between settings.
• Keep reducing the settings until you reach the narrowest one.
• To make cannelloni, trim each finished pasta sheet so that when measured each one is 4 by 6 inches.
• Repeat with the remaining 7 sections of dough.
• For the bechamel sauce:
• Melt the butter in a pot over medium heat.
• Then add the flour and whisk constantly until well incorporatedthis is the roux.
• Let it cook for a minute or two.
• Start adding hot milk a little bit at a time, while mixing continuously.
• Continue until the milk is well incorporated.
• Add the milk a bit at a timedo not add more milk unless it is well incorporated.
• Keep adding milk until all of it is incorporated.
• Add salt and nutmeg and cook it on a low heat for 5-10 minutes or until it thickens.
• For the filling and assembly:
• Clean and wash the spinach.
• Blanch the spinach for 2 minutes in a pot of salty boiling water.
• Drain the water off, putting the spinach into a colander.
• Rinse spinach with cold water to cool it down quickly.
• Keep spinach in the colander for 1 hour to lose the excess water.
• Then squeeze the spinach with your hands to get rid of as much liquid as possible.
• Preheat oven to 350 F.
• Add ricotta to a bowl.
• Add the spinach, egg, 1 1/2 cups of grated Parmigiano Reggiano, nutmeg, salt and pepper and mix until well combined.
• Refrigerate until ready to use.
• Bring a large pot of salty water to a boil.
• Cook the pasta sheets in it for 1 minute.
• Its best to cook them one at a time.
• Remove them from the boiling water with a slotted spoon and put them on a plate to cool down.
• Repeat until youve cooked all of the pasta.
• Now take one sheet of cooked pasta and add 1/8 of the filling along the long side of the rectangular pasta sheet.
• Roll each pasta sheet up like you would a crepe (rolling the empty side of the pasta around the filling to make a tube like shape).
• Repeat for the remaining rectangles of pasta and the rest of the filling.
• Spray a 13 x 9 inch baking pan with some cooking spray and pour some bechamel sauce on the bottom.
• Spread it well, especially in the corners.
• Place the cannelloni in the baking pan in 1 layer.
• Cover the cannelloni with the remaining bechamel sauce and sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of Parmigiano Reggiano.
• Bake for 20 minutes, then broil 5 minutes.
• Serve immediately.
• Recipe adapted from Manus Menu.