Pasta Channels with Red & White Sauce

Cannelloni Alla Romano

Unquestionably one of my very favorites. And although it may be prepared as a large casse- role dish it is much more elegant when prepared as individual servings each in its own oval chafing dish. This is the way cannelloni would be prepared in Rome. Once assembled, the dishes may be covered with tinfoil and frozen in advanced preparation of a large dinner party. In that case, the individual chafing dishes are unwrapped of their tinfoil when needed, and go straight into the oven.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Pasta will be baked on the top shelf. The bottom shelf of the oven should be provisioned with a sheet of tin foil to catch and spillage.

Roman Style Tomato Sauce

Italian White Sauce

Fettuccine al uova recipe making egg pasta in 5 inch squares

Filling:

1-2 tablespoons of olive oil

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1 finely diced small red onion

1 pound ground veal

1 pound ricotta cheese

1 pound fresh spinach triple washed and stemmed 1/2 cup heavy cream.

1 beaten egg

1⁄4 cup bread crumbs made from stale Italian Bread (stabilizer) 1/4 cup graded Asiago cheese

1/4 cup graded Romano cheese

1/4 cup graded Parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg

salt and black pepper

Cook the stemmed spinach in boiling salted water for five minutes, drain, put the spinach in a kitchen towel and wring the towel to force water from spinach then chopped well. Saute the onion in olive oil until translucent. Add the veal and cook over low heat, stirring and breaking up the bits with a wooden spoon until the meat just done. Do not overcook! Allow mixture to cool. In a large bowl, beat the egg until pale yellow. Add and mix all the other ingredients and season with nutmeg and salt and pepper. Refrigerate the mixture for several hours to make it manageable.

Very lightly brush the individual oval chaffing dish bottoms (boats) with olive oil. Spoon in two table spoons of red sauce in bottom of dish.

Assemble Cannelloni two channels per dish being careful not to over fill the individual boats.

Add filling to each wrapper and a little white sauce to the pasta sheet. Roll up so some white sauce is rolled between the pasta sheet walls. Cover the two channels with white Sauce. Then cover the white sauce with Roman Style Tomato Sauce. Top with grated Romano cheese. Drizzle over the channels a hint of good olive oil.

Bake at 350 F for about 45-60 minutes or until done. Dishes should be bubbling hot and placed on a larger round plate so they may be carried. Serve immediately.

A full bodied Italian wine is required. (Brunello, Bordolino, Brolio, Sangiovese)