Cannelloni
Serves 4-6
Cooking time: 1½ hours
Ingredients
400g beef mince
2 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp chilli powder
200ml red wine
4 tbsp tomato purée
1 tin of tomatoes chopped or pulped
700g passata
2 tsp mixed Italian herbs
2 tbsp sugar
425ml milk
50g flour
50g butter
150g cheddar, grated
250g fresh lasagne sheets
Parmesan - either rind or 1 tbsp Parmesan
Salt
Pepper
I like to buy steak, chunk it up and mince it myself because you can put the exact amount of fat you want and you can pick whatever meat you like the look of the most and, the thing I like the most, there is never any risk of getting gristle
If you are mincing your own meat then cut the meat into chunks and season with salt and pepper before you mince it.
Method
Put 1 tbsp oil in a wok or frying pan and cook the mince until brown - expect this to take 15-20 minutes. You want to cook it until all of the juice that has come out of the meat has almost disappeared and the meat has browned, expect this to take 15-20 minutes. Remove from the pan and put to one side.
To the pan add the onion and cook for a few minutes until translucent, add the garlic and continue to cook for a few minutes. Add the red wine and scrape the caramelised bits from the bottom. Cook for a few minutes until the liquid has almost gone and add the tomato purée. Mix well and cook for a few minutes - this is to remove the raw tomato taste. Add the tomatoes, herbs, chilli powder and sugar. Mix thoroughly, add your Parmesan and cook on a medium heat for at least 20-30 minutes until it is reduced, rich and utterly delicious.
While the sauce is bubbling away get your pasta sheets and cheese sauce ready.
Bring a large pan of water to the boil.
To make your béchamel add the butter and flour and vigorously stir until the butter has melted and for another minute. Slowly add your milk a bit at a time, stirring to ensure there are no lumps as you go. Leave the sauce to cook on a low heat for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat, add the cheese and stir until melted. Check the seasoning of both your cheese sauce and your tomato sauce and adjust where necessary. Remove the Parmesan. Preheat your oven to 180c.
When the water is boiling you want to turn off the heat and add your pasta sheets one at a time. Leave them in the hot water for 2 minutes no more. Carefully take out your sheets and lay on your board making sure they do not overlap. Put a sheet of greaseproof paper or cling film if you need to to separate.
In a large square dish add 2 ladles of the tomato sauce and evenly spread over the bottom of your dish. Put the meat in with the rest of the tomato sauce.
Take one of the pasta sheets and lay it in front of you with the longest side directly in front of you. Place a few spoons of the meat sauce on ¾ of the pasta sheet and ‘roll up’. I try to divide the sauce in the dish equally into the number of sheets I have so I know how much per sheet I can use.
Top with all of the cheese sauce. Bake for 30-45 minutes until golden brown. Serve with garlic bread.