Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni
Tomato sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1 brown onion, finely chopped
1-2 garlic cloves, crushed
400g tin chopped tomatoes (Annalisa brand works), (San Marzano whole tomatoes work even better texturally)
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp sugar, I often use 1/2 and it works well.
2 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
Bechamel sauce
50g unsalted butter
50g (1/3 cup) plain flour
750 ml (3 cups) milk
1/4 tsp nutmeg, ground or grated
Filling
450g English spinach, stems removed, its actually much easier with pan fried baby spinach leaves until they wilt, then squeeze when cooled.
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large brown onion, finely chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
300g ricotta cheese (fresh from a deli or fruit shop is better than supermarket ricotta)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp nutmeg, ground or grated
16 dried cannelloni tubes, about 2.5cm diameter, 10 cm length, total weight about 175g) or 10cmx15cm cut lasagne sheets, rolled after smearing 1 tbs of spinach mixture across the closest edge to you.
125g (a cup) mozzarella cheese, grated
60g (1/2 cup) coarsely grated parmesan
Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius and grease an ovenproof dish, about 20cm x 26cm x 6 cm
Heat oil in a large frying pan.
Add the onion and garlic, cook over medium heat for 2 or 3 minutes.
Add the tomato, tomato paste, sugar, 125ml (1/2 cup) water.
Simmer for 20 minutes, or until the mixture thickens slightly
Stir in the basil.
Melt the butter in a saucepan.
Add the flour and cook for one minute.
Remove from the heat, gradually add the milk and whisk until smooth.
Return to the heat and stir until thick
Add the nutmeg and simmer for 3 minutes, or until the sauce boils and thickens further.
Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Make sure your don’t overcook this sauce, you will need it to be quite liquidy to help with the cooking of the pasta in the pan.
Put the spinach and 100 ml water in a large saucepan.
Cover and cook for 3 minutes, or until the spinach has wilted.
Refresh under cold water.
Squeeze out any excess moisture with your hands and chop finely.
Heat the oil in a small frying pan.
Add the onion and garlic and cook over medium heat for two minutes, or until soft (this works if you don’t burn the garlic)
Transfer to a large bowl, add the ricotta cheese, egg, and nutmeg and combine with a fork.
Stir through the spinach.
Spoon into the cannelloni tubes.
Spread half of the white sauce onto the base of the dish.
Drizzle over half of the tomato sauce.
Arrange the filled cannelloni tubes evenly in a single layer. this also works using lasagne noodles, place filling on the first third of the sheet, roll it up and cut the tube in half lengthwise.
Top with the remaining white sauce.
Drizzle over the remaining tomato sauce. Don’t mix the two layers together, a layer of tomato on top cooks better than a layer of tomato and white sauce mixed together.
Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes, or until cooked.
Remove the foil and add cheese and cook for 20 minutes.
Stand for 10 minutes before serving
Try this without cheese. Cover the cannelloni with foil (try and create a pocket of air between the foil and the top of the lasagne to avoid it from sticking together. You can also spray the inner side of foil with oil.) and bake at 220 degrees celsius (fan-forced) for 10 minutes, turn the heat down to 200 and cook for a further 30 minutes or until the pasta is cooked.
Some brands of lasagne noodles take longer to cook than others. Coles is quite slow to cook, Latina is faster.
Try this with a green salad with white vinegar and olive oil dressing and a crunchy baguette.