I had a large bag of spinach, an unopened pot of ricotta, a ball of mozzarella and a wedge of parmesan all sitting in my fridge, begging to be used. It took 20 minutes to prep and 35 to cook and Ta Da! A healthy, filling and flavoursome supper.
Serves: 4
Effort Level: Easy
Preparation & Cooking Time:50 minutes
Shelf Life: 3 days in fridge. 3 months in freezer
Ingredients:
Cannelloni tubes
500g bag washed spinach
200g ricotta
125g ball mozzarella
75g parmesan
8 garlic cloves
750ml tomato passata
1 tsp La Chinata smoked paprika
Olive oil
Nutmeg
Sugar
Salt and pepper
Equipment:
Chopping board and sharp knife
Food processor (optional)
Cheese grater or
Large deep frying pan
Medium saucepan
Oven dish
Colander
Plastic bag
Here’s What You Do:
Pre-heat he oven to 180º/Gas 4
Smear a little olive oil around the sides of a large deep frying pan (it stops the spinach sticking) then cook the spinach over a high heat, for a couple of minutes turning it frequently. Tip the wilted leaves into a colander and leave to drain.
Finely chop or blitz in the processor 8 garlic cloves then tip half into the saucepan. Add a tablespoon of olive oil and a teaspoon of smoked paprika and cook over a medium heat for 1 minute. Stir in the passata and leave to simmer gently.
Tip the remaining garlic into the frying pan with a tablespoon of olive oil and cook over a medium heat for 1 minute. Add the ricotta and stir well then take off the heat. Grate the mozzarella and half the parmesan and stir into the ricotta.
Press the spinach against the sides of the colander, squeezing out any remaining liquid, then chop finely or blitz in the processor and stir into the cheeses. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Fill the plastic bag with the spinach mixture, snip the end corner off the bag and insert it into 12 cannelloni tubes, squeezing the bag and filling them with spinach.
Arrange the filled cannelloni tubes in an oven proof dish.
Add a teaspoon of salt and two of sugar to the tomato sauce then pour over the cannelloni covering it well
Slide the dish onto the middle oven shelf and leave to bake for 35 minutes.
Take out the oven and finely grate over the remaining parmesan. Leave the cannelloni to rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Tags: garlic, mozzarella, parmesan
Thanks Jan. What a coincidence! I hope it lived up to expectation and your veggie friend left an empty plate.
How wonderful! I am doing this tonight for my veggie friend. As with all your wonderful mouth-watering recipes this will be such a winner. Thanks xx
Me too. It’s my No.1 fave vegetable
This is one of my faves too, sometimes I make it with pancakes. I love spinach and all our family enjoyed it.
Antony said he hated it too, until he tried it – then he almost scoffed the lot! The same thing happened with my parmesan/sage gnocchi. turned his nose up to begin with, now asks when I’m next making it. You will lurve the xmas cake. it’s the nicest one I’ve ever made. Same applies to xmas puds though I’ve been doing that same recipe for years. Thrilled you’ve made the mince pies, aren’t they fab! Each year the orders go up, I’m doing 250 so far this christmas. Blimey!
I always order this when I go to an Italian restaurant. Will definately make it at weekend. John hates it so I’ll do it in individual bowls and freeze three.
I am making the pudding and cake at the weekend! Mince pies were divine but a bit boozy as I added too much extra brandy to the mincemeat :o)
Jennie