Cold summer cannelloni

Cold cannelloni stuffed with tuna, corn, hard-boiled egg, and olives, then blanketed in mayonnaise. They come together in 30 minutes, they're eaten straight from the fridge, and they're the star recipe in my house the second the heat sets in.

There's a moment every year when the oven stops getting turned on in my house. It isn't a date on the calendar, it's a feeling: you walk into the kitchen, notice how still the air is, and decide that today, no.

That's the week these summer cannelloni show up.

These are the cannelloni my mother made when people dropped by without warning, because the whole filling comes out of the pantry: a few cans of tuna, a can of corn, some olives, and eggs. You assemble them in the morning, put them in the fridge, and by lunchtime they're cold, firm, and ready to go.

Why you're going to like this recipe

• The only things you cook are the pasta and the eggs. No oven, no béchamel, no broiling anything in August.
• It's made ahead. In fact it needs to be made ahead so it can chill, at least 2 hours in the fridge. It's a recipe that works for you while you're off doing something else.
• Pantry ingredients. Tuna, corn, olives, eggs, mayonnaise. You probably have all of it at home already.
• It travels well. It holds up perfectly in a dish covered with plastic wrap, whether you're taking it to a family get-together or to the beach (in a cooler, obviously).
• Kids love them (and so do the grown-ups).

Ingredients and notes

As I mentioned, the ingredients are very simple.

Cannelloni sheets. You can use the old-fashioned dried ones or the no-boil kind that just need a soak. I prefer boiling the dried ones: they have more body and tear less when you roll them. If you use the no-boil kind, follow the timing on the package and don't go a minute over. If you can't find flat sheets, fresh lasagna noodles cut to size work just as well.

Tuna packed in olive oil. In oil, not in water. Water-packed tuna comes out dry and the filling loses its richness. Drain it well, but don't wring it out completely.

Sweet corn. Drain it and pat it dry a little with paper towels.

Hard-boiled eggs. They go chopped into the filling. You can hold a little back to grate over the top at the end.

Pitted green olives. Finely chopped or sliced. If you like a stronger flavor, use anchovy-stuffed manzanilla olives.

Mayonnaise. For the filling and for covering the cannelloni. This is not the moment for light mayo, which breaks when you stir it in and turns watery.

How to make them, step by step

1. Boil the eggs

Put the eggs in cold water, bring it to a boil, and count 10 minutes from the moment it starts boiling. Move them straight into ice water. Cooling them fast keeps that gray-green ring from forming around the yolk and makes them much easier to peel.

2. Cook the pasta sheets

Plenty of water, well salted, at a rolling boil. Add the sheets one at a time so they don't stick together, and stir gently for the first 30 seconds.

Cook them one minute less than the package says. The pasta isn't going to keep cooking in the oven here, but it will soften slightly over the hours in the fridge. An overcooked sheet tears the second you roll it.

This is the step that ruins the recipe if you get it wrong: as soon as you take them out, move them to a bowl of cold water, then lay them out without overlapping on a clean, damp kitchen towel. If you stack them, they fuse together and there is no human way to separate them afterward.

3. Make the filling

In a large bowl, mix the well-drained tuna, flaked with a fork, with the dried-off corn, the chopped hard-boiled eggs, and the finely chopped olives.

Add the mayonnaise a little at a time, starting with 2 tablespoons. Mix and see how it looks. You want a filling that holds its shape on a spoon, not one that drips. Too much mayo and the filling squeezes out the sides as you roll, leaving you with floppy cannelloni.

Season with salt and pepper, and that's it.

4. Fill and roll

Lay a sheet on the cutting board, put a heaping tablespoon of filling along the edge closest to you, and roll it up firmly but without squeezing.

Set them in the dish seam side down. That's the only thing keeping them from unrolling while they rest.

5. Cover and chill

Cover them with mayonnaise, grate a little hard-boiled egg over the top if you like, and finish with a few olives.

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Four is better. Overnight is ideal.

Frequently asked questions about summer cannelloni

Variations

• With piquillo peppers: two chopped piquillos in the filling. Sweetness and color, and they go beautifully with tuna. Jarred roasted red peppers work too.
• With apple: half a green apple in very small dice. It sounds strange, but it works. It adds freshness and a bit of crunch.
• Without pasta: the same filling inside hollowed-out tomatoes or half an avocado.
• With chicken: swap the tuna for shredded rotisserie chicken. Perfect for using up leftovers.
• Lighter: replace half the mayonnaise with plain Greek yogurt. It loses some richness but gains freshness.

Recipe notes

Storage: 2–3 days in the fridge, always covered. Not suitable for freezing.

Cook the pasta al dente. This is the most common mistake. An overcooked sheet tears when you roll it and falls apart in the dish.

Never stack the hot sheets. They fuse together and won't come apart.

Drain the tuna and corn well. Excess liquid waters down the filling and makes the mayonnaise separate as it sits.

Better the next day. The filling settles and the pasta absorbs some of the sauce.