BASIC SPINACH AND RICOTTA CANNELLONI

By efriend

Cannelloni refers to a cylindrical style of pasta dish. The pasta is filled with a filling and covered in sauce. This recipe uses spinach and ricotta and is one of the most popular of cannelloni. You can use pre-made cannelloni cylinder shape pasta or use lasagna sheets and then roll them up. It's usually best to first blanch any dry pasta in water for a few minutes although many still use the pasta uncooked. I find that can lead to problems of finding uncooked pasta so it's best to experiment first if choosing the uncooked version. Another alternative is to use fresh lasagna sheets (noodles) as these won't require pre-cooking. Either way, I'm sure you'll enjoy this cannelloni.

Ingredients

• 10 pasta tubes (or lasagna sheets)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 tbs dried oregano
• 400 g - 14oz washed and dried baby spinach
• 500 g - 18oz Ricotta cheese
• 80 g - 3oz Parmesan cheese
• 100 g - 3.5oz Mozzarella cheese
• 350 g - 12oz passata or tomato purée
• 1 hand full of fresh basil (or flat leaf parsley)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Preparation

Step 1

Pre heat your oven to 400°F - 200°C
Boil a large pot of water. Add salt, once boiling.
Place your pasta in boiling water and blanch for four minutes.
Once cooked, drain and place in a bowl of cold water to stop cooking process. After 10 minutes, drain pasta.
Place a frying pan on moderate heat and add olive oil.
Using a garlic press or other, crush the garlic into the oil.
Add the spinach (you can add half first, let it wilt down and then add the rest).
Once nice and wilted, transfer the spinach to a chopping board and chop it quite finely.
Place spinach in a mixing bowl.
Add ricotta cheese.
Season with salt and pepper.
Grate two thirds of the Parmesan cheese into the mixture.
Scrunch up the basil leaves and finely shred them using a knife. Add to mixture and mix well.
Line the bottom of a baking dish using half the passata (tomato purée).
If using a disposable pipping bag, cut off the tip with a knife or scissors, it should be small enough to fit in pasta tubes.
Fold back the sides and add the mixture. Twist the top and squeeze bag until mixture reaches the end of the tip.
Pick up a pasta tube and fill it by inserting the pipping bag tip and squeezing. Starting from the centre outwards. Spin it around and fill the other side filling up the whole tube.
Place all the filled cannelloni tubes into the baking dish allowing a small space between each one.
Sprinkle cannelloni with oregano.
Add the remainder of the passata over the top and spread evenly to cover using the back of a spoon.
Grate the mozzarella cheese and sprinkle enough to cover all the cannellonis.
Add the remainder of Parmesan cheese by grating over the top.
Cover with foil and bake at 400°F - 200°C for 30 minutes.
After 20 minutes, remove the foil.
Remove from oven when golden brown, leave to rest 10 minutes before serving.