Delicious Modena Rolls with Béchamel and Ham: An Italian Holiday Classic
Modena Rosettes consist of fresh egg pasta sheets rolled around a savory filling of cooked ham, fontina or provola cheese, and a generous sprinkle of Parmigiano Reggiano. The rolls are then sliced into rounds, resembling delicate Rosettes, and bathed in a creamy béchamel sauce before being baked to golden perfection.
Ingredients
- 300 g fresh egg pasta sheets
- 500 g béchamel sauce
- 300 g ham slices
- 300 g Fontina cheese
- Grated Parmigiano cheese to taste
Instructions
- Prepare the béchamel sauce, following the recipe for classic béchamel sauce.
- While the sauce is cooking, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, prepare your pasta sheets for blanching. Blanching involves briefly cooking the pasta in boiling water to soften it and make it pliable for rolling. Carefully add the pasta sheets to the boiling water and blanch for 1–2 minutes. Drain the pasta in a colander and pat dry with a clean dish towel or paper towels. This helps remove any excess water, so the filling won’t soak through.
- Next, spread a thin layer of the béchamel sauce onto one of the pasta sheets. Layer thinly sliced ham and fontina cheese over the sauce. Sprinkle generously with Parmesan cheese.
- Starting at one shorter end, tightly roll up the pasta sheet and its filling into a long cylinder. Once rolled, use a sharp knife to cut the cylinder crosswise into rounds about 2 cm (about 1 inch) thick. These will become your Rosette pasta shapes.
- Add a splash of milk to the remaining béchamel sauce to thin it out. This will help the sauce cook the pasta.
- Add a layer of béchamel sauce onto your baking dish. Arrange the rosette shapes snugly in the dish. Pour the remaining béchamel over the top and sprinkle with more fontina and Parmesan cheeses.
- Bake at 190 °C (ca 375 °F) for 30 minutes, then crank up the heat to 220 °C (ca 425 °F) or broil briefly to achieve a golden, crispy top.
- Your homemade rosette pasta is now ready to enjoy!