Pasta stuffed with minced meat and cheese in the oven can significantly diversify the menu. Of course, products of appropriate sizes are required for cooking. As a filling, it is recommended to use minced meat. This allows you to cook a full and sufficiently satisfying dish, which is perfect even for a festive table.
Choose pasta
How to cook stuffed pasta in the oven? For starters, it’s worth buying products. There are several special varieties designed specifically for stuffing. Most often they are made in the form of shells, cannelloni and tubules.
Such pasta has not only large sizes, but also a suitable thickness of the dough. Before cooking, it is recommended to boil them lightly. Such pasta is stuffed with filling, seasoned with sauce, and then baked in the oven.
Basic Rules
The recipes for stuffed pasta in the oven are simple. Each hostess can master them. The main thing is to adhere to some rules:
- Pasta should be prepared before baking in accordance with the instructions. They can be left raw or lightly boiled.
- It is not recommended to fill the pasta to the top with filling. During cooking, they may burst. Cannelloni is particularly affected.
- Before baking, the dish should be completely covered with sauce. In extreme cases, pasta should be immersed in liquid at 2/3. Pour the sauce before the heat treatment, and not after.
- If the shells were boiled before stuffing until cooked, then they can be baked in the oven, but not for long.
Classic italian recipe
So, how to make pasta stuffed with minced meat and cheese in the oven? Cannelloni should be used for this recipe. Outwardly, they look like big tubes. Thanks to this form, pasta is easily filled with almost any filling. From the components it is worth preparing:
- 250 grams of cannelloni;
- 250 grams of cheese, preferably hard;
- 500 grams of tomatoes;
- 225 grams of pork;
- 225 grams of beef;
- 35 grams of cream butter;
- 1 head of onion;
- 3 large tablespoons of vegetable-based oil;
- black pepper;
- salt.
Product Preparation
To cook pasta stuffed with minced meat and cheese in the oven, it is worth preparing all the ingredients. First, you can boil cannelloni a little. The tubes should be lowered into boiling and slightly salted water.
While preparing pasta, you should prepare the filling. To do this, pork, beef and peeled onions must be chopped by passing through a meat grinder. You can also use a blender. In the resulting mass, you need to add a little ice water, black pepper and salt. All this needs to be mixed well. In conclusion, the filling should be fried in oil, and then cool.
Tomatoes must be blanched. Remove the skin from them. To do this, it is worth making an incision in the form of a cross on each vegetable, and then lower everything in boiling water for a few seconds. The peeled pulp must be cut into circles.
How to bake
To make pasta stuffed with minced meat and cheese, you should fill the cannelloni with the finished filling. In this type of product, it is worth shifting it into a baking dish or into a pan pre-oiled. Now it’s worth adding the remaining components. Slices of cheese and then tomato slices should be placed on top of pasta.
The container with the dish must be closed with a lid and placed in the oven, preheated to 200 ° C. After 40 minutes, the dish will be ready. Serve it to the table hot.
Pasta with cream, minced meat and cheese
Cream allows you to make the dish more tasty, airy and tender. For cooking, it is recommended to use large shells. If desired, you can use another sauce suitable for pasta. For four servings you will need:
- 400 grams of minced meat;
- 400 grams of pasta;
- just over 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil;
- a tablespoon of butter from cream;
- about 200 milliliters of cream;
- 130 grams of cheese;
- sea salt.
Component Preparation
To cook pasta stuffed with minced meat and cheese in the oven, you need to properly prepare the filling. The main thing is to follow all the rules. Stuffing can be purchased at the store, but it is better to cook it yourself from pork and beef. It is worth adding salt. If desired, spices can be added to the minced meat, the components should be mixed well and put in a preheated pan with oil. In minced meat, add peeled onions. Fry foods until golden brown. As for pasta, they must be boiled in water with the addition of salt for five minutes after boiling. In this case, shells need to be mixed regularly. Otherwise they will stick.
Final stage
Ready pasta should be put in a colander and washed in cold water. Then the boiled shells should be put back into the pan and add oil to them. Prepared pasta must be filled with a cooled filling, put in a prepared form or pan, pour cream and put in the oven, heated to 200 ° C. It will take no more than 30 minutes to cook. During this time, it is worth grating the cheese. Five minutes before they are ready, they need to sprinkle shells. Pasta stuffed with minced meat and cheese should be served hot, lightly sprinkled with herbs.
Little tricks
Stuffed pasta is an unusual and tasty dish. It first appeared in Italian cuisine. However, this dish has found its fans around the world. Stuffings for pasta can be completely different. How to cook in the oven pasta stuffed with raw minced meat or fried with vegetables? To make a tasty dish, you should resort to some tricks:
- When cooking stuffed pasta, only hard cheese should be used. This product allows you to make the dish more delicious. It is best to use parmesan.
- For cooking, use only special pasta that can withstand prolonged heat treatment.
- To prevent pasta from sticking during cooking, it is worth adding a little vegetable-based oil to boiling water. 1-2 tablespoons will be enough. It is best to use olive oil.
- If the prepared stuffing from minced meat turned out to be dry, then it is worth adding a little sour cream or cream to it.
- If cannelloni or pasta in the form of tubes are too long, then they can be cut into two equal parts. So the products are well baked.
In conclusion
According to the housewives, completely different fillings can be used to prepare stuffed pasta. It is optional to add forcemeat. The filling can be vegetable or mushroom. Gourmets will like a dish made from seafood or fish. However, the most important thing is the sauce. It must be a must. Otherwise, the dish will turn out dry and not very tasty.
Following all the rules and recommendations, you can prepare original pasta, which is ideal not only for a family dinner, but also for a festive table. Serve them, according to experienced chefs, is only hot. If desired, the dish can be decorated with chopped herbs. Stuffed pasta with red wine goes well. True, those who follow a strict diet should not eat such a dish, as it is very high-calorie. As a side dish for stuffed cannelloni, you can serve a salad made from fresh vegetables.