Spinach + Ricotta Cannelloni

So you made your beautiful sourdough pasta sheets (see recipe here) and now you need some inspo with what to make!

I’ll skip the unnecessary writing before the recipe but I will tell you how good this is. if you are like me and make spaghetti bowl every time you have pasta - it is time to shake it up. Fresh pasta or not, this is a winner!

This recipe makes a good amount of Cannelloni (~15-20) and unless you are feeding many, they freeze really well - making for an easy dinner option for another night!

*I normally freeze the Cannelloni + sauce in separate Tupperware and then assemble when they are defrosted)
*I also have a video on how I assembled the Cannelloni here :)

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Recipe

Serves ~4-6
Makes around 15-20 Cannelloni

Equipment:
- Baking dish (20 x 25cm)
- Medium casserole pot or saucepan
- Large mixing bowl
- Fork
- Spoon
- 2x spatulas
- Grater
- Knife

Ingredients:

Tomato Sauce

• 3 tbsp olive oil

• 1 onion (finely chopped)

• 4 garlic cloves (minced)

• 1 tsp dried oregano + thyme (each)

• Optional: dried chilli flakes or chilli oil

• 1/4 cup tomato paste

• 800g canned crushed tomatoes (2 x tins)

• 2 cups vegetable or chicken stock (or whatever you have on hand)

• 1/2 cup white wine (or red)

• pinch of salt + pepper

• handful of basil leaves

• optional

• rind of parmesan cheese for flavour

Spinach + Ricotta Filling

• 300g fresh spinach OR 200g frozen spinach (chopped and thawed)

• 500g full fat ricotta

• 1/2 cup parmesan

• 1 cup shredded cheese (I normally purchase the mix with mozzarella, colby + tasty)

• 1 egg

• 2 garlic cloves

• 1/8 tsp nutmeg powder OR a teeny tiny sprinkling of fresh grated nutmeg

• pinch salt + pepper

Cannelloni

• Sourdough pasta recipe here. Cut pasta sheets into 15 x 15cm squares (doesn't need to be exact)

• OR store bough cannelloni tubes here

• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese mix

• Basil + more parmesan

Method:

Sauce:

1. Saute: Heat the oil in a saucepan or casserole dish over medium heat. Add garlic, onion, dried oregano + thyme (and optional chilli flakes/oil) and cook until the onion is translucent. Add the tomato paste and cook for an extra 1-2 minutes.

2. Add the wine and increase the heat to high until the wine has mostly evaporated.

3. Add the canned tomatoes, stock, salt and pepper. Stir and turn the heat down to low and let it simmer with the lid on for 10-15 minutes. *add the parmesan rind to the sauce now*

4. After 10-15 minutes, take the lid off and cook for a further 30 minutes on low heat until the sauce has thickened up.

5. Once the sauce has thickened, take off the heat and stir in the basil. *Also take out the parmesan rind

Filling:

1. Spinach options:

   • Frozen spinach: Place the spinach in a colander to thaw out and then press out most of the liquid.

   • Fresh spinach (e.g. English) spinach: if using fresh large leaf spinach, I normally like to pull the leaves off the stalks and roughly chop. Option to sauté in 1 tbsp olive oil for 2 minutes (helps to reduce bitterness).

2. Place the spinach in a large mixing bowl with the remaining filling ingredients. Mix together well.

Assemble + Bake: (see video here)

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°c or 160°c fan forced for 15-20 min.

2. In your baking dish add about 1 cup of the sauce into the dish first.

3. Using a spoon, add your spinach + ricotta filling onto the top edge of your pasta sheet. Using your hands, roll the pasta sheet and place into your baking dish. OR if using store bought cannelloni, fill with spinach + ricotta mix using a spoon.

4. Once you have laid out as many cannelloni as you like into your baking dish, add a generous amount of sauce on the top of the cannelloni. Make sure you cover the pasta completely in sauce to keep it nice and *moist*

5. Now add a generous amount of cheese mix + parmesan on the top of your cannelloni.

6. Bake for ~30 minutes or until golden.

7. Serve with more parmesan + basil and a side salad - Enjoy!!

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Send through any questions below!

Happy Baking - Courtney xx