Catalan Cannelloni

Cannelloni was introduced to Catalunya by the Italian chefs who cooked for the upper class society in Barcelona during the 19th century. These days, the dish is elevated with premium ingredients like truffles and foie gras.

cannelloni filling

200g pork belly, diced 500g beef cheek, diced 50ml extra virgin olive oil 300g onions, julienned 75g carrots, julienned 75g tomato sauce 25g brandy

50g Port wine (or red wine) 1 bay leaf

250g beef stock 400ml milk

25g breadcrumbs 125g seared foie gras 20g black truffle, sliced salt, to season black pepper, to season

» On a pan, sear pork belly and beef cheek until golden brown. Transfer the meats onto an oven tray.

» Add extra virgin olive oil and onions, then bake at 150°C, stirring every 10 minutes, until onions turn soft.

» Add carrots and cook for 10 minutes. » Add tomato sauce and cook for 5 more minutes.

» Deglaze the tray with brandy and Port. » Add bay leaf and beef jus and cook for 10 minutes

» Add milk and breadcrumbs and cook until meat is soft, for 20 minutes.

» Cool meat mix down to room temperature and pass it through a meat grinder.

» Sear foie gras until golden brown, then dice it up.

» Add foie gras and truffles to the grinded mix.

» Season with salt and black pepper, then transfer the mix into piping bags.

cepes béchamel

5 Spanish onions, finely diced 20ml olive oil

1 litre milk

25g dried cepes powder (available at Culina)

40g French butter

20ml extra virgin olive oil

80g flour salt, to season

» In a pan, slowly sweat onions with olive oil and salt for two hours. » Bring the milk to boil, then add cepes powder. Mix and turn off the fire

» In a pan, cook onions, butter, extra virgin olive oil and flour for 5 minutes.

» In the same pan, add milk mixture and cook for 5 more minutes.

» Blend béchamel sauce in the Thermomix. » Strain the béchamel sauce.

» Keep it chilled.

cannelloni

10 pieces of cannelloni pasta 1kg cannelloni filling 500ml cepes béchamel 20g fresh black truffle, sliced

» Cook cannelloni pasta for 8 minutes. Once cooked, cool it down in ice.

» Spread open the cannelloni pasta into a pasta sheet and pipe 100g of cannelloni filling on a side of the pasta, then roll it. » Warm up the cepes béchamel and put a bit on a bottom of an oven tray that can fit the canelloni. Then add canelloni to the oven tray and cover it with the rest of the béchamel.

» Bake the cannellonis at 180°C for 10 minutes.

» Before serving, add sliced black truffles on the cannelloni.