Although not an old traditional recipe, this potato and porcini mushroom cannelloni is one of the most scrumptious cannelloni recipes I know. The taste is exceptional! I highly recommend this recipe if you’re looking for a unique recipe for these large pasta tubes. Also a great way to use up leftover mashed potatoes!
Cannelloni con patate e funghi porcini.
The two most traditional and popular ways Italians serve cannelloni (manicotti in USA) are either filled with a meat ragu and baked in a tomato sauce or filled with spinach and ricotta and baked in a tomato sauce and/or béchamel. As you can imagine, the filling for this potato and porcini cannelloni is different. It contains potato puree and porcini mushrooms. The sauce is a yummy cheesy béchamel.
Another great thing about this dish is that it’s vegetarian and can be vegan if you use vegan cheese and milk. Also, sometimes it’s nice to make pasta without tomatoes! Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE tomatoes and here in Italy they’re so flavourful! Still, I enjoy pasta recipes which are tomato free too or, as the Italians say ‘bianca’!
Fresh or dried pasta?
You can make this potato and porcini mushroom cannelloni (manicotti) with dried pasta tubes, which is what I did. You can also make it with fresh cannelloni. However, fresh cannelloni is a bit of a misnomer because it doesn’t really exist.
As I have mentioned in other posts, fresh cannelloni are in fact rolled up lasagne pasta sheets. That fact gives you two options; buy the fresh sheets ready-made or make them yourself! If you’d like to make them yourself you can follow my recipe for homemade lasagne.
If you decide to use dried cannelloni make the béchamel a little more liquid as the pasta will have to cook in the sauce. I also cooked the dish covered in aluminium for 15 minutes before removing the cover so that the top of the pasta can get nice and crispy!
Fresh pasta cooks very fast and there’s probably no need to cover it. Just bake until the top is a nice golden crispy brown and the pasta is cooked enough to eat. If the pasta doesn’t seem cooked and the top is already brown enough, just cover the dish with aluminium foil until the pasta is ready.
Which mushrooms are in this dish?
Although this potato and porcini mushroom cannelloni (manicotti) recipe isn’t traditional, it’s popular. In fact, I found quite a number of versions for it. The recipe I followed is the most simple, except I also added Pioppini mushrooms. You can use just porcini (ceps) or include another type of mushroom if you prefer.
But, the combination of porcini and potato is what gives this dish its divine flavour, so the porcini are a must. I used frozen ones because I don’t really like dried porcini. You can use either. Of course, if you can get your hands on fresh porcini, that’s even better!! Don’t forget to soak the mushrooms first if you are using dried ones.
Let me know if you try it!
I served this dish to guests last weekend and they totally fell in love with it. I’m sure you will too! If you do decide to make it, please let me know how it turns out and if you liked it. You can leave a comment here on the blog or on The Pasta Project Facebook page.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Buon appetito!
Other pasta recipes with porcini mushrooms to check out.
- Tagliatelle with porcini
- Paccheri with porcini, speck and pistachios
- Spaghetti mare e monti with porcini and calamari
- Tagliatelle with rabbit ragu
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Potato and porcini mushroom cannelloni (manicotti)
Ingredients
- 16 cannelloni (manicotti) 4 cannelloni per person
- 400 g potatoes (14oz) or leftover mashed potatoes
- 200 g Fresh/frozen porcini mushrooms (7oz) or 50g dried (7oz) (if fresh cleaned and sliced, if dry, soaked in warm water for 20 mins and drained)
- 200 g Pioppini mushrooms (7oz) cleaned and bottom of stalks cut off
- 1 handful fresh parsley chopped
- 1 shallot or small onion peeled and finely chopped
- 100 g Parmigiano or grana cheese (3.5oz) grated. Vegetarians should use vegetarian cheese
- 1/2 glass white wine
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
For the béchamel
- 50 g all purpose flour (2oz)
- 50 g butter (2oz) plus a bit extra for puree
- 1 Lt fresh milk (4 cups) plus a bit extra for puree
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
Instructions
- Boil the potatoes unpeeled in salted water until they are soft. Drain them, peel them and mash them with a bit of milk and butter until you have quite a creamy but rough puree. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the chopped shallot/onion until it starts to soften.
- Add the cleaned and sliced mushrooms and chopped parsley and cook for a few minutes. Turn up the heat and add the white wine. Allow the alcohol to evaporate and turn down the heat. Simmer until the mushrooms are cooked.
Make the béchamel
- Melt the butter in a saucepan, sift the flour into it and make the roux. Add salt and nutmeg and pour the milk a little at a time into the mixture, stirring continuously to prevent lumps forming. Add a third of the grated cheese and continue stirring over a low heat until the sauce thickens.
Put the dish together
- Put the puree in a bowl, add half the remaining Parmesan, the cooked mushrooms and a pinch of nutmeg. Use a hand held blender to make the pieces in the mixture a bit smaller but keep the puree a little rough.
- Now using a teaspoon, fill your cannelloni with the mixture of potatoes and porcini. I fill first from one end and then from the other.
- Spread some bechamel sauce over the bottom of an oven dish, place the filled cannelloni side by side in the dish and cover them with the rest of the bechamel sauce.
- Sprinkle the cannelloni with the rest of the grated Parmesan and bake at 200 degrees for about 30-40 minutes. I covered the dish with aluminum foil for the first 15 minutes.
- Once ready, let the potato and porcini mushroom cannelloni (manicotti) stand for 5 minutes then serve.
Notes
This recipe was originally published in 2018 but has been updated.
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Gail Montero says
I love seeing new pasta recipes to try in your blog and this is surely one of them. Love the addition of mushrooms! YUM!
Jacqui says
So nice to hear that you like the recipes on my blog Gail! Yes the use of porcini mushrooms in this cannelloni recipe really make it special!
Gunjan says
Pasta is our all time favorite. This dish came out so well. We all loved every bite of it.
Jacqui says
I’m happy to hear you loved this dish Gunjan. It’s one of my favourite cannelloni recipes!
Kari Alana says
This is just the recipe for this moment, So practical and so much flavour. My entire family loves pasta and mushrooms. I am looking out for Pioppini mushrooms to replicate this lovely dish!
Jacqui says
Thank you Kari! Mushrooms are such a good autumn ingredient and this cannelloni recipe is a delicious way to use them. If you can’t find pioppini, you can use other mushrooms instead!
Emily says
I love the unique flavor combo of porcini and potato in this delicious recipe!
Jacqui says
I love this combo too Emily. The porcini and potato are a divine filling for cannelloni! Together with the cheesy sauce this makes for a seriously yummy dish!
Ramona says
WOW, what a combination of two of my favorite things ever in one recipe! this makes me drool just by looking at it and I’m dying to make this for dinner tonight. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Jacqui says
So happy you like this recipe Ramona! I agree this is certainly a drool worthy pasta dish. Hope you enjoyed it!
Mirlene says
Love learning about all of the different ways to make pasta from you. This dish looks wonderful and I cannot wait to give it a try.
Jacqui says
Thanks so much for your comment Mirlene. I love sharing all these wonderful Italian pasta recipes! This dish is wonderful! I hope you try it!
Julie says
Oh my! What a great recipe! This is such a great creamy stuffed pasta and the mushrooms are the perfect addition. Will make again.
Jacqui says
Thanks for your comment Julie! I’m so glad you enjoyed this Italian cannelloni recipe.
Alexis says
My family and I tried this dish this weekend and it was amazing. Super simple to prepare and the taste was incredible.
Jacqui says
I’m thrilled to hear that you enjoyed this porcini and potato cannelloni Alexis. I also think it’s an amazing recipe!
Paige says
YUM….my mouth is watering looking at this photo and it looks easy too! Going to make this!!
Jacqui says
Thanks for your comment Paige! I’m sure you’ll totally love this recipe when you try it! Yes, it’s pretty easy and delicious!
Beth says
I’ve never thought of using potato puree as part of a filling for cannelloni. What wonderful comfort food this is! I like “bianca” sauces too, maybe more than red.
Jacqui says
Potato puree works so well as a cannelloni filling Beth. I really want to try some other recipes with it in the future!
Debbie says
Is it wrong anytime I open your recipes I begin to drool? This POTATO AND PORCINI MUSHROOM CANNELLONI (MANICOTTI) just looks fabulous. I have never considered potatoes as a filling but it sounds so good. I can’t wait to try this.
Jacqui says
Haha of course it’s not wrong Debbie! It’s also a great compliment! Thank you! Let me know how this cannelloni turns out when you try it. I’m sure you are going to love it!