Spinach and ricotta cannelloni

Last year I made spinach and ricotta cannelloni for the first time. Well I used instant cannelloni shells (i.e no need to pre-boil them) and all I had to do was prepare the filling (which in that case was spinach and ricotta + cottage cheese) as well as the tomato and the white sauce layer. It takes certainly much more effort to make cannelloni than lasagna as you have to individually fill the small pasta tubes. If you are the lazy chef, you could use instant tomato sauce :) Saves you a bit of time eh!

You can experiment with different fillings such as beef, chicken & spinach or even pumpkin & chicken! Have you ate cannelloni before? If so, what was the filling?

The following recipe is adapted from Jamie Oliver’s awesome spinach and ricotta cannelloni.


Ingredients used (serves 5-6)

• 2 knobs of butter
• Olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
• A large handful of fresh marjoram or oregano, roughly chopped – I used 1 to 1.5 tsp of dried oregano
• ¼ of a nutmeg, grated – I used 1 to 1.5 tsp dried nutmeg
• 8 large handfuls of spinach, thoroughly washed – I used 5 packets of china baby spinach with stalks removed.
• A handful of fresh basil, stalks chopped, leaves ripped
• 2 x 400g tins of good-quality plum tomatoes, chopped – I used Hunts stewed & diced tomatoes. You can also make your favourite tomato sauce!
  
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 pinches of sugar
• 400g crumbly ricotta cheese – I used 250g ricotta cheese + 250g low fat cottage cheese
• 2 handfuls of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 16 cannelloni tubes (if you end up having extra filling, you could always use lasagna sheets)
  
• 200g mozzarella, broken up
  

For the white sauce

• 1 x 500ml tub of crème fraîche
  
• 3 anchovies, finely chopped
• 2 handfuls of freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Note: I made my own white sauce version i.e white bechamel sauce using butter, flour, milk, salt, pepper, cheddar cheese and nutmeg powder.

Method

1. In a large saucepan, put it on a high heat and add your butter, a drizzle of olive oil, one of the sliced garlic cloves, a handful of marjoram or oregano (or dried oregano) and the grated nutmeg. By the time the pan is hot the garlic should be soft. Put as much spinach as will fit into the pan. Keep turning it over; it will wilt quickly so you will be able to keep adding more spinach until it’s all in. Moisture will cook out of the spinach, which is fine. By cooking it this way you don’t lose any of the nutrients that you would if boiling it in water. After 5 minutes, put the spinach into a large bowl and leave to cool.
   
   
2. Place the pan back on the heat, add a little olive oil, the other clove of sliced garlic, your basil stalks and the tomatoes. Then fill one of the empty tomato tins with cold water and add this too. If using stewed tomatoes, do not add this extra water. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down, add a pinch of salt and pepper and the sugar, and simmer for about 10 minutes, until you get a loose tomato sauce consistency. Then take the pan off the heat and add the basil leaves.
   
   
3. By now the spinach will have cooled down, so squeeze any excess liquid out of it and pour this back into the bowl. Finely chop the spinach and put it back into the bowl. Mix it with the liquid, add the ricotta (or ricotta + cottage cheese) and a handful of the Parmesan.
   
   
   
4. Squeeze the mixture into the cannelloni. You can use a piping bag to do that if you want. I used a small spoon.
   
   
   
   
5. Pour the tomato sauce into your ovenproof dish and lay the cannelloni on top.
   
   
   
6. To make the white sauce, mix together the crème fraîche, anchovies and the 2 handfuls of Parmesan with a little salt and pepper, then loosen with a little water.
   
   
   
7. Spoon in the white sauce over the cannelloni. Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan and the mozzarella pieces, and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes until golden and bubbling.
   
   
   
8. Serve hot!