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Canelones with Slow-Braised Pork and Foie Gras Pate

It wasn’t until I enrolled in Culinary School that I had the opportunity to try
making my own filled pasta products with homemade dough. The process for
making something like tortellini is time-consuming, and somewhat difficult to
execute well on your first try.
Canelones, or rolled-up lasagna noodles filled with whatever you want, are an
amazing Spanish-inspired filled pasta that are incredibly easy to assemble and
make. If you can make a lasagna, you can make canelones. An added benefit is
that you can use store-bought lasagna noodles, which soften up quickly when
soaked in hot water.
The recipe below includes some braised pork and Foie Gras pate in the pasta
filling, along with a savory bechamel sauce and melty mozzarella & parmesan
cheese topping.

Ingredients

  • 24 oz 1.5 lbs well-marbled piece of pork butt
  • 1 Tbsp Kosher salt (for salting the meat before browning)
  • 3 Tbsp sunflower seed oil (for browning meat)
  • 2 small onions (peeled and cut in half)
  • 2 small carrots (ends trimmed)
  • 1 stalk celery (cut in sections)
  • 3 cloves garlic (peeled)
  • 16 oz fortified homemade stock
  • 24 oz water
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 Tbsp salted butter (softened)
  • 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 1.25 cups 10 oz whole milk, or until bechamel reaches desired consistency
  • Kosher salt and nutmeg (to taste)
  • 100 g Foie Gras pate (softened at room temperature)
  • 12 half-size (6-inch lasagna noodles, or 6 full-sized noodles)
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil (for preventing sticking while softening the noodles)
  • ¾ cup mozzarella cheese (finely shredded)
  • ¼ cup parmesan cheese (finely grated)
  • 2 Tbsp fresh parsley (finely chopped, as garnish)

Instructions 

  • Salt the pork butt on all sides with Kosher salt.
  • Heat some sunflower seed oil in a saute pan on high heat, until it is nearly smoking.
  • Add the salted pork, and brown on high heat quickly on all sides.
  • *It doesn’t matter if your pork is heavily seared on all sides, as it will eventually be braised and pulled apart. The browning step here is just to add flavor and complexity to the braised meat.
  • Once the pork butt is lightly golden-brown all over, remove it from the saute pan.
  • Add the browned pork to a pot with the peeled onion, carrot, celery, garlic, fortified stock, water, and bay leaf.
  • Bring the mixture to just below a simmer, at around 170F, and cook on low heat for roughly 5 hours.
  • *The braise is done when the meat is falling off the bone. Try your best to never let the piece of pork boil.
  • While the meat is finishing braising, it is time to prepare your bechamel sauce.
  • To make the roux, combine the butter and flour on the stove in a small sauce pot, and increase the heat to medium.
  • Cook the butter and flour while stirring with a rubber spatula.
  • Cook until the roux mixture is beginning to get golden-brown in color, about 6-8 minutes.
  • Slowly whisk in your whole milk, until you arrive at your desired consistency.
  • Season the bechamel mixture with Kosher salt and a small sprinkling of nutmeg, until it tastes perfect to you.
  • Cover the finished bechamel sauce with tightly-fitting plastic wrap, and set aside for later.
  • *The plastic wrap helps to ensure the bechamel mixture doesn’t form a “skin” layer on top while it is cooling down.
  • Pull the braised pork, and mix with the softened Foie Gras pate in a large bowl until fully incorporated.
  • Soften the lasagna noodles in hot water for roughly 10 minutes, or until they are soft enough to roll.
  • *Sometimes I add a bit of oil to the hot water to reduce the chances of the lasagna noodles sticking together. If you have 12-inch lasagna noodles, cut them in half so they are 6-inches each.
  • Lay out your lasagna noodles, and fill each one with roughly 2-3 Tbsp of the Foie Gras and Braised Pork filling.
  • Roll the canelones up so the filling is evenly distributed throughout the filled lasagna noodle roll.
  • Preheat your oven to 425F.
  • Add a thin layer of bechamel sauce to the bottom of a baking casserole dish, and layer in the 12 rolled canelones on top of the bechamel sauce.
  • Top with the remaining bechamel sauce, and cover with the shredded mozzarella cheese and the grated parmesan cheese.
  • Bake at 425F for roughly 25 minutes, or until the cheese topping is bubbly and perfectly golden-brown.
  • Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.
  • Garnish with fresh parsley and serve.

Notes

This dish tastes wonderful when reheated for leftovers the following day. Note that your choice of fillings for a dish like canelones can include anything you want! People often chop of various leftover meats and vegetables and use that mixture as the filling for the pasta, which is a great idea for you to try out at home!