Braai blik mac ‘n cheese cannelloni
An easy-to-prepare weeknight recipe
During the week, supper time is always a rush. I love cooking a few larger meals on the weekend that we can have on the evenings when we don’t have time to prepare something from scratch. This dish is a South African variation on the classic mac ’n cheese. I loaded cannelloni tubes with crispy bacon and Lancewood’s garlic and onion cheese sauce, and grated more cheese for on top. Standing the cannelloni tubes up isn't just for show—it creates the perfect pockets to trap maximum sauce and bacon in every bite, topped off with a buttery, crunchy panko-cheddar crust.
It’s ridiculously easy to prep, feeds a literal crowd (or yields the best leftovers of your life), and bakes to absolute perfection while you put your feet up. Pop open a cold one, fire up the oven, and let’s get cooking!
Ingredients for mac ‘n cheese cannelloni
500 g cannelloni tubes, uncooked
500 g bacon bits or diced bacon
2 tub Lancewood Cheese Sauce
2 tub Lancewood Garlic & Onion Sauce
750 g Lancewood White Cheddar, grated
250ml cream or milk, as needed to loosen the sauce
½–1 cup panko crumbs
2–3 tbsp melted butter
1 lemon
Freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste
Fresh parsley and/or coriander for garnish
How to prepare the mac ‘n cheese cannelloni
Fry the bacon bits in a large pan until deeply golden and crisp. Drain off excess fat, but keep a little for flavour.
In a pot, combine the Lancewood Cheese Sauce and Garlic & Onion Sauce, ost (about 500 grams) of the grated white cheddar, a splash of milk and warm gently. Do not boil aggressively, or the sauce may split. The sauce is ready when it is smooth and pourable. It needs to be fairly loose because the dry cannelloni will absorb liquid while baking. Aim for the consistency of a thick pouring cream, not a stiff cheese sauce.
Stand the dry cannelloni tubes upright in the braai blik, packed closely together. They should support each other. Spoon or sprinkle a little bacon into some of the tubes.
Pour the warm cheese-and-bacon sauce slowly over the cannelloni, letting it run down into the tubes. Tap the dish gently on the counter to help the sauce settle.
Mix panko crumbs with melted butter and the remaining white cheddar cheese, then sprinkle over the cannelloni.
Cover the dish tightly with foil or the braai blik lid and bake for 1 hour at 160 degrees Celsius.
Remove the foil or the lid and bake for another 30 minutes, until the top is golden, bubbling, and crisp at the edges.
If the top needs more colour, grill for 2–3 minutes at the end, watching carefully.
Let it rest for 10–15 minutes before cutting. This helps the sauce thicken and the upright cannelloni hold their shape.
Garnish with chopped coriander, lemon zest and a squeeze of lemon and then serve.
Tips and tricks for the best mac ‘n cheese cannelloni
Use uncooked cannelloni, but make the sauce loose enough so the pasta can soften. Pack the tubes tightly upright so they do not collapse. Covering with foil for the first part of baking is important; otherwise the top browns before the pasta cooks.
For an extra-rich version, add a layer of sauce to the bottom of the dish before standing the tubes upright. This helps cook the bottom edges and prevents sticking.
For an extra special dish drizzle the finished dish with truffle oil and smokey salt.
Enjoy! Please tag me on Instagram if you’ve made this recipe, I’d love to see it!
More recipes
Below the newsletter block, you will find some more recipes.
There are a lot of different types of meats you can cook on the braai. How about this Prime Rib Roast with Exotic Mushroom Sauce and Pak Choy? You can also make a Leg of Lamb on the braai or a Lemon & Herb Peri-Peri and Rosemary Deboned Leg of Lamb. I’ve also made Ostrich Fillet Kebabs with Nectarine and Rosemary on the braai.
Other than meat, South Africans also love to put seafood on the braai. This braaied snoek recipe with plum jam is a winner.
If you’re looking for a side on the braai, you can either make this pull bread with pesto, mozzarella and Hellmann’s mayonnaise or make traditional braai broodjies(keep an eye out for my secret ingredient). If you have leftover gammon, these gammon braai broodjies are also to die for.
About Shawn Godfrey
Photo credit: Niki M Photography
Shawn Godfrey is an entrepreneur based in Cape Town, South Africa. After the Covid-19 lockdown saw his business in financial distress, cooking was the creative outlet that helped to keep him sane. To keep track of his recipes, and encourage friends and families to join him, he starts his instagram account The Roasted Dad.
Fast-forward to late 2021 - on a whim Shawn (encouraged by his wife Lianne) enters MasterChef South Africa. It is a crazy time of life: running a 200 people business and struggling to keep it profitable, two small children with a third on the way, and about to move into a new house. But when Shawn gets selected to be one of the 20 contestants participating in the fourth season of MasterChef South Africa, he decides to go all in. Leaving his 7-month-pregnant wife to look after their then three and one-year-old children, he battles it out and comes back home five weeks later with the trophy and a million rand prize money in his pocket.
It all started with an Instagram account, but The Roasted Dad is so much more now. Shawn has stayed his entrepreneurial self and whilst he hosts Private Dinner Parties and Cook-with-Me Demos, does Restaurant Take-Overs, he still runs the lighting company and several other businesses.
On his blog, Shawn shares restaurant reviews and accommodation reviews, and gives an insight into the wild and wonderful life he leads together with his wife Lianne, and their three children Aiden (8), Olivia (6) and Harvey (4).
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