Cheese Cannelloni with Tomato Sauce

👨‍🍳 Method

For the Tomato sauce

1. 1
   Preheat the oven to 180°C (355°F).

   ⚙ Preheating the OvenOven

   💡Put things in the oven only once it's reached temperature, after the heating light has gone off: an oven that hasn't reached temperature changes baking times, and the bake burns outside or stays underbaked.
2. 2
   Heat the olive oil in a pot over medium heat.

   ⚙ Pan-fryingStovePot
3. 3
   Add the onion and fry 5–8 minutes, stirring now and then, until the onion is soft and translucent and starts to turn golden at the edges. If it browns too fast, lower the heat.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove

   💡Add by cooking time: what needs long (onion, carrot, meat) goes in first, and what burns fast (garlic, dry spices) goes in last, only until fragrant.
4. 4
   Add the garlic and fry about 30 seconds to 1 minute, just until fragrant. Don't let the garlic brown.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove

   💡Garlic burns quickly and turns bitter. Add it only after the onion has softened, over medium heat, and add the next ingredient as soon as it smells fragrant.
5. 5
   Add and stir about a minute, until fragrant.

   ⚙ SimmeringStove

   💡A gentle simmer, not a boil: a hard boil dries the food out and clouds it, a slow simmer cooks it evenly.

For the Pastry Filling

1. 6
   In a bowl, mix the ricotta, eggs, nutmeg and parsley, and season with salt and black pepper.

   Bowl

To assemble

1. 7
   Add some of the mozzarella and half of the parmesan to the filling and stir.
2. 8
   Fill the cannelloni with the filling using a piping bag.

   Piping bag
3. 9
   Pour half of the tomato sauce into a baking dish, arrange the cannelloni, filled, in it and pour the rest of the sauce over the top.

   Baking pan
4. 10
   Sprinkle the rest of the parmesan and mozzarella on top.
5. 11
   Cover the dish with foil and bake 30 minutes.

   OvenBaking panAluminum foil
6. 12
   Bake uncovered for another 15 minutes, until golden.

   ⚙ BakingOvenBaking pan

   💡Check by the cue (until…), not just the clock: every oven bakes a little differently.