Cannelloni

Again I was lost for idea in what to prepare for iftar, everybody loves spicy stuff, but hubby do complaint of heartburns due to over eating of chilies at time. By the way, I also try to alternate the type of menu served.

Yesterday for the first time I decided to make Cannelloni with meat sauce. This is my first try at making Cannelloni. To accompany the Cannelloni I also make grilled calamari with garlic and parsley sauce, and a bowl of salad. If you notice in the salad I added some chopped boiled potatoes as well as whole hard boiled eggs, mainly because it is more organized that way, and the eggs will not get messed.
Anyways, if you are interested in trying your hands at Cannelloni, this is how I did mine:

You have to have 1 big box of Cannelloni, boiled and drained afterwards under cold tap water, and sprinkled with some olive oil.

A medium size bowl of minced meat
2 average sized onion, chopped into tiny pieces
1 can of whole tomatoes, some tomato paste, and a cup of tomato puree
I like to add thyme and oregano for taste, as well as rock mountain salt and ground black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
A small of Béchamel sauce, and ½ packet of parmesan cheese.

Method of cooking:

Heat the oil in a heavy bottom pan and sauté the onion till slightly brown, add the minced meat, stir so that it would not be in chunks. Once the minced meat is brown add the whole can of tomato, the tomato paste and the tomato puree, sprinkled in the thyme and oregano. Let boiled for 5 minutes then add the pepper and salt. Let it simmer till sauce is thick and take off from the heat.

Now comes the hard part, where you need to fill each pieces of the Cannelloni lovingly (lol), so that it will not break.

Take the cannelloni and stuff them one by one, you can use a teaspoon but if you find that that is too troublesome, just use your fingers but take care not to smear the Cannelloni as you go along.

Place the stuff Cannelloni pieces in a roasting pan side by side, and if you decide to put on top of each other, you have to alternate with the Béchamel sauce as well as the Parmesan cheese.

Whichever way you choose to arrange is up to you.

Finally bake the Cannelloni in a preheated oven at 180 degree for approximately 30 to 40 minutes.

Give it a go, I am sure you will enjoy seeing your family loving each pieces of the Cannelloni.