Truffled Mushroom Cannelloni

This homemade mushroom cannelloni recipe is inspired by the late Antonio Carluccio’s Cannelloni Ripieni di Funghi con Salsa di Taleggio e Tartufo—a mouthful in every sense. His 2014 cookbook PASTA introduced me to this deceptively simple but utterly luxurious mushroom cannelloni with truffle, built on a simple wild mushroom filling, shaved truffle, and a creamy Taleggio cheese sauce.

I’ve made a few respectful changes to the filling by adding mascarpone, fresh thyme, truffle salsa, and Italian parsley. I’ve also swapped in the readily available Swiss brown mushrooms for wild mushrooms and roasted them to make them have a good meaty bite.

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Prep Time 1 15

Cook Time 30

Course Main Course, Pasta

Cuisine Italian

Servings 6 people

Equipment

Digital scales
Tupperware Chop 'N Prep Chef or other mini chopper (optional)
Pastry wheel (for cutting pasta sheets)
#12 ice cream scoop (optional)
Large rectangular baking dish (approx. 36cm x 26cm x 7cm)
2 x 2–3 litre mixing jugs or bowls
Instant read thermometer (optional but helpful)

Ingredients

Fresh egg pasta sheets
1 x Easy homemade egg pasta dough recipe (alternatively, 12 x 14cm x14cm fresh egg pasta sheets)
Truffle mushroom filling
400 g Swiss brown mushrooms
300 g shitake mushrooms
40 g dried porcini mushrooms
4 large garlic cloves
2 large long green chillies
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves (small bunch of thyme)
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 cup chopped Italian flat leaf parsley (medium bunch)
250 g mascarpone
100 g truffle salsa (optional)
125 g truffle pecorino (keep aside 75g for top of cannelloni) (or sheep’s milk cheese)
Truffle salt (or sea salt)
Ground white pepper
Brie cheese sauce
700 ml full cream milk
600 g triple cream brie cheese
7 egg yolks
Truffle salt or sea salt
Ground white pepper
To serve:
Pickled red onions
Pine nuts
Micro herbs

Instructions

Assemble ingredients and equipment:

Gather all ingredients and the necessary equipment before you begin.

Prepare and roast the mushrooms:

Preheat the oven at 180°C fan forced / 200°C conventional.
Soak the porcini mushrooms in warm water. Lift them out of the water to leave any grit behind, gently squeeze them, discard the first soak water and replace it, and soak again until fully rehydrated and thoroughly squeeze out the soaking water.
Finely chop the porcini mushrooms.
Trim and halve or quarter the Swiss brown mushrooms. Place them on a baking paper-lined tray, toss with a little extra virgin olive oil, and spread them out cut-side down.
Season with truffle salt and white pepper then roast them tossed with olive oil, salt, and white pepper.
Roast for 20–25 minutes or until the liquid has evaporated and the mushrooms are golden on the underside.
Cool, then slice to about 5–7mm thick.
Remove and discard the stems from the shiitake mushrooms. Halve any large ones, then cut the rest into 5–7mm slices.

Sauté aromatics and mix herbs:

Slice the 2 green chillies in half lengthwise, remove the seeds and pith, and finely chop.
Remove the thyme leaves from the stems (2 tablespoons of leaves) roughly chop.
Add 4 tablespoons of olive oil to a medium sized frying pan and add 2 crushed garlic cloves, chilli, and thyme leaves.
Roughly chop parsley (1 cup).
Gently sauté until they chilli and garlic are softened and thyme leaves fragrant.
Cool slightly, then stir in the chopped parsley.
Season with truffle salt or white pepper.

Make the mushroom filling:

In a large bowl, combine the sliced mushrooms, rehydrated porcini, 250g mascarpone, truffle salsa, sautéed aromatics, and 50g finely grated truffle pecorino.
Mix until evenly combined.
Taste and season with truffle salt and white pepper.
Refrigerate until ready to assemble.

Prepare pasta sheets:

If using, roll out the homemade egg pasta dough until 2-3mm thick.
With homemade or store bought fresh pasta, cut into 14cm x 14cm squares. You need 12 squares but cut more if able in case some tear.
Boil the pasta sheets briefly until just pliable—about 1 minute for homemade and longer for the thicker store bought pasta.
Rinse the sheets under cold water, lightly oil them to prevent sticking, and layer between sheets of baking paper.

Make the brie cheese sauce:

Roughly chop 600g triple cream brie cheese (leave rind on), set aside.
Separate 7 eggs, setting aside the yolks and a large bowl.
Gently heat 700ml milk in a medium saucepan until it reaches 85°C or is hot to the touch (do not boil).
Add the chopped brie cheese (rind on) and stir until the cheese is fully melted, remove from heat.
Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a large jug or bowl, pressing gently to extract all the cheesy milk, set aside.

Temper the egg yolks:

Whisk the egg yolks.
Slowly add the hot cheese sauce in small amounts, whisking constantly to prevent curdling. Continue adding gradually until fully incorporated.
Set aside until ready to assemble.

Assemble the cannelloni:

Preheat the oven to 150°C fan forced / 170°C conventional.
Lightly oil the baking dish and pour about 1.5cm of the brie cheese sauce into the base of the pan.
Place approximately 75g of mushroom filling onto each pasta square and roll loosely, allowing for a 2cm overlap. Trim any excess overlap.
Arrange the12 rolls in two rows into the baking dish. They should be quite snug but with some room for the sauce.

Add sauce and bake:

Carefully pour the remaining sauce over the cannelloni, gently shifting the rolls so the sauce seeps between them.
Sprinkle the top with the remaining 75g of grated truffle pecorino.
Cover the dish with oiled foil and bake for 20 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 95°C.
Remove the foil, increase the oven temperature to 180°C fan forced / 200°C conventional, and bake until golden.
Shield the edges with foil if they begin to brown too quickly.

Rest and garnish:

Let the baked cannelloni rest for 30 minutes before garnishing.
Top with toasted pine nuts, pickled red onions, and micro herbs just before serving.

Just before you cook with abandon…

Portion guide: This recipe makes 12 cannelloni, which serves 6 people as a main course—or 4, if you plate like I do.

Vegetarian suitability: This dish is meat-free and can be made fully vegetarian—just check that your cheeses are made with non-animal rennet. Most soft cheeses and pecorino-style cheeses produced in Australia use microbial rennet but always confirm on the label. I wouldn’t recommend using vegan cheese in this recipe. The brie cheese sauce is central to both flavour and structure, and vegan substitutes simply won’t hold up.

Not a truffle fan? That’s fine—make it a naked mushroom bake

Cheese substitutions: If you can’t find truffle pecorino or truffled sheep’s milk cheese, use 125g of aged Parmigiano Reggiano. Skip the pre-grated stuff—go for a decent wedge from the deli. It melts better and tastes like actual cheese.
Truffle salsa substitution: Truffle salsa is optional and used in small amounts to add depth. If leaving it out, increase the dried porcini mushrooms from 40g to 50g to bring back some of that earthy base note.
Truffle salt swap: Truffle salt can be replaced with sea salt. You’ll lose a bit of aromatic finish, but the dish will still stand up beautifully.

Pasta recommendations: For the best result, use 12 fresh pasta sheets measuring 14cm x 14cm, rolled to 2–3mm thickness. You can make them using my easy homemade egg pasta dough. Store-bought sheets work too, but they’ll likely need a longer boil time. Avoid dried cannelloni tubes at all costs—this filling isn’t pipeable, and you’ll end up with a rough paste rather than the intended rustic bite.

Baking time adjustment for store-bought pasta: The recommended 20-minute covered bake at 150°C fan forced is based on thin, homemade pasta. If using thicker commercial sheets, reduce the temperature to 140°C fan forced / 160°C conventional and extend the bake to 30 minutes before checking.

Brie sauce handling tip: Don’t waste time (or cheese) trying to trim the rind off the brie. Just chop it and let the sauce do the work. It all melts, and the sieve catches anything that doesn’t belong.

Tempering egg yolks: Tempering is just a fancy way of saying “don’t scramble your eggs.” Slowly add the hot cheese sauce to the 7 egg yolks while whisking constantly. You’re gradually raising the temperature of the yolks so they incorporate smoothly without curdling.

Assembly tip: Fill each cannelloni with about 75g of mushroom filling (a heaped ¼ cup), then roll loosely with a 2cm overlap. Trim any excess if it doubles back on itself. Rolling too tight risks the filling expanding and splitting the pasta.

Pan size guide: A 36cm x 26cm x 7cm baking dish fits 12 cannelloni in two neat rows. You want them snug but not squeezed. The sauce needs room to flow between the rolls. If it spreads too far, the tops dry out. Too little sauce and they bake tough. It’s a balancing act—close, but not too close.

Resting time: Once baked, the cannelloni should rest for 30 minutes before garnishing. It gives the sauce time to settle, and more importantly, stops your garnish from immediately collapsing into a steamy mess.

Keyword creamy mushroom cannelloni, Truffled mushroom cannelloni, vegetarian truffle pasta bake