Cannelloni alla ricotta is a cylindrical pasta dish filled with ricotta cheese mixed with vegetables or meat, topped with red sauce. Ricotta is mixed with spices and sometimes egg yolks and Parmesan. Meat and vegetables can be added to the filling. It is often confused with Maniche or Cannoli, two different Italian dishes.
Cannelloni alla ricotta is an Italian pasta dish consisting of cylindrical sheets of pasta filled with ricotta. The cheese is often mixed with vegetables or meat to create a rich, savory dish and is usually topped with a red pasta sauce. Cannelloni is often confused with Maniche or Cannoli, two very different Italian dishes.
The basis of all ricotta cannelloni are sheets of dough, into which the ricotta cheese will be rolled. Traditional Italian cooks make pasta sheets from scratch, but most cooks simply use prepackaged rectangular pasta sheets or cannelloni tubes. The sheets or tubes are cooked in a pot of boiling water before the cannelloni ingredients are added. They are then placed in the bottom of an ovenproof casserole dish, ready to be filled, rolled and baked.
The use of ricotta in the cannelloni gives the dish a cheesy, creamy texture. Plain ricotta can be added to pasta, but most cooks mix the cheese with a variety of spices, including salt, pepper, basil, or nutmeg. Sometimes the egg yolks are mixed with the ricotta to help the cheese firm up during cooking. Parmesan is often blended to create a richer, more complex flavor. Ricotta comes in whole-milk or low-fat varieties.
Natural ricotta cannelloni is certainly a pleasant dish, but meat and vegetables are often added to the cheese blend to create a more substantial meal. Spinach, roasted squash, peppers, or any variety of greens, depending on personal preference, can simply be combined with ricotta cheese and added as a filling to pasta. The same goes for meat, with ground beef, chicken, sausage, or even seafood serving as great additions to ricotta cannelloni. This wide variety of filling options makes it a very versatile dish.
After the pasta is filled, rolled, and ready to cook, the ricotta cannelloni is topped with sauce and, typically, some grated cheese. The type of sauce used often depends on the type of filling in the pasta. Red sauce is often used on cannelloni, as it pairs well with ricotta and most meats. Seafood ricotta cannelloni calls for a white sauce, as fish is rarely paired with red sauce.
Cannelloni should not be confused with Maniche or Cannoli. Many American restaurants that serve Italian dishes mistakenly refer to cannelloni manicatti and use the terms interchangeably. Manicotti is actually intended to be more of a crepe dish, rather than a heavy pasta dish like cannelloni. The cannolo is a tubular sweet filled with cream, often made with ricotta, and garnished with pieces of chocolate or icing sugar.
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