I first tasted this heavenly white ragu & black truffle cannelloni dish at the Campovalano’s Truffle Sagra, a small town’s dedication to the fact that Abruzzo provides 40% of Italy’s truffles, and one of the pockets where they grow profusely is close to the town at the foot of Monte Foltrone, one half of the forested Monti Gemelli in northern Teramo. If you are new to using truffles this is best made with the cheaper Black Summer Truffles, more common than their hardcore winter cousins and which truffle experts define as delicate with a sweet less musky aroma.
Truffle & White Ragu Cannelloni
Ingredients
Filling
- 6 Tbs Olive Oil
- 1 Celery Stalk finely chopped
- 2 Cloves of Garlic
- 1 White Onion finely chopped
- 100 g Proscuitto finely sliced
- 1 Chard Leaf finely chopped
- 1 Romaine Lettuce Leaf finely chopped
- 200 g Mushrooms coarsely chopped
- 400 g Mince Veal
- 1/2 Glass of Dry White Wine
- 3 Tbs Pecorino or Parmesan Cheese
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Pasta
- 400 g Egg Lasagne
- 1 Black Truffle
Béchamel Sauce
- 30 g Butter
- 30 g Flour
- 1/2 L Whole Milk
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- Nutmeg to taste
- 3 tbs Grated Pecorino or Parmesan Cheese
- A little Black Truffle grated
Post Bake
- Grated Black Truffle
Instructions
To Make the Stuffing
- Finely chop the celery and onion and saute them in a large pan with 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt and when the mixture appears transparent, add the finely sliced ham and the mince meat. Mix and push it down with a wooden spoon and let it brown. Add salt and pepper, pour over wine and let it evaporate. Beat the eggs and pour into the mixture.
- Transfer the meat into a bowl and pour 2 tablespoons of oil into the pan, add a clove of unpeeled garlic and the mushrooms previously cleaned and cut into slices, add salt and allow to cook until all their water has evaporated.
- Remove the garlic clove and add to the meat mixture. Pour a little oil into a pan and the remaining garlic and sauté the finely chopped chard leaf and cook for 5 minutes
- Add the chard to the meat & mushroom mixture and 3 tablespoons of cheese. Add to a food processor and briefly pulse and check the taste and add more salt & pepper if needed.
Béchamel Sauce
- Heat the butter in a saucepan, add the flour and the milk. Add a pinch of salt, pepper and a little nutmeg. Add the grated cheese and a little grated black truffle.
Prepare Pasta
- Cook lasagne sheets for one minute, drain and let them cool in a bowl filled with cold water. Drain on a cloth you are looking for rectangular size 9 x 8 cm.
- Spread the sheets on a clean dry tea towel and fill each with 2 tablespoons of filling. Wrap them to create the cannelloli shape and place them on a buttered baking sheet seam side down. Brush the top of the cannelloni with a beaten egg, cover with the béchamel sauce, add a few knobs of butter and a dusting of cheese. Cover the pan with foil and bake at 180 C for 30 minutes. remove the foil and raise the temperature to 200 C and allow the cannelloni to brown approximately 10 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and grate the remaining black truffle over on the cannelloni, cover with foil. Leave for 5 minutes before serving.
Author: Sam Dunham
Sam is a very lucky midlife 'mamma' to A who is 11 and juggles her work as a self-employed freelance travel and food web content manager and copywriter and EFL teacher - she is the founder of English in the Woods. She is the co-founder of the social enterprises: The Abruzzo Blogger Community and Let's Blog Abruzzo. She is currently writing the book 'Abruzzo: Folk and Food.