Shotgun shells

Cylinders of awesomeness

Course Appetizer, Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine American

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 1

Servings 4

Author pajh

300 g mince half and half pork and beef mince, with a fairly high fat content.
300 g cheese half and half gouda and parmesan is the default, but feel free to mix it up.
8 chillies obviously, vary according to taste.
8 canneloni shells assuming two per person
16 rashers streaky bacon
barbecue sauce Unholy Sauce is the One True Sauce

Chop your chillies nice and small, grate your cheese. Mush it all up together with the mince in a big bowl. (Use your hands. Go on, you know you want to. Feel the squidge.) Add whatever other seasonings you like. Remember the filling should be nice and moist, but not runny.
Bring a large saucepan to the boil with salted water. Drop in your cannelonis (cannelonii? cannelonodes?) and part-cook them, five minutes or so. You want them slightly soft, but still with enough structure that you can stuff them without letting them split.
Rinse the pasta tubes under cold water to stop them sticking together.
Set up your production line.
The easiest way to stuff mince into a cannelonus is to roll a quantity into a sausage first, slide it in, then plug up the ends with more mince. An air bubble or two inside is fine, but you don't want large gaps in the middle.
Wrap each tube with two rashers of streaky bacon.
Arrange them onna baking tray. Brush each bacon tube all over with barbecue sauce. Don't forget the underneaths.
Cover with foil so they'll cook in their own steam. Oven-bake them on lowish (160°) until they're mostly done. It should probably take about forty minutes until the pasta is tender.
Remove the foil, brush with more barbecue sauce, and crank up the heat. This is the point where you can finish them off on the barbecue, if you've got an actual fire going.