Easy Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni
Easy Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni is a delicious vegetarian recipe with a home made tomato pasta sauce! Simply combine the spinach and ricotta filling, stuff the tubes, pour the sauce in and let it bake in the oven!
Servings: 5
Calories: 270kcal
Equipment
- Baking dish
- Food processor
- Measuring jug (pasta sauce)
Ingredients
Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni
- 5 cups spinach leaves Note 1
- 375 grams smooth ricotta cheese
- 2 eggs free range
- 700 grams tomato passata
- 800 grams diced tomatoes Note 2
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon Italian Herbs Note 3
- 1 tablespoon dried onion Note 4
- salt and pepper to taste
- ½ cup tasty cheese Note 5
- parsley to garnish
Instructions
Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni
- Preheat your oven to 180°C / 350-375°F / Gas Mark 4-5
Spinach and Ricotta Filling
- Add the spinach to the bowl of a food processor then blitz.
- Pour in ricotta and eggs and blitz to combine
- Transfer the spinach and ricotta filling to a zip lock bag, place in fridge till ready to use Note 6
Tomato Pasta Sauce
- To make the pasta sauce combine the passata, diced tomatoes, Italian herbs, dried onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Stir till thoroughly combined.
Cannelloni
- Spray a 38cm (L) x 22cm (W) x 6cm (H) (approx ) baking dish with cooking oil
- Pour in a base layer of the tomato pasta sauce
- Cut the tip off the zip lock bag and fill each a dried canncelloni tube with the spinach and ricotta mix. Place it onto the pasta layer in the baking dish. Repeat till all 10 tubes are filled.
- Pour the tomato pasta sauce over the cannelloni, ensure all pasta is visibly covered by the sauce.
- Pour the remaining pasta sauce into the dish.
- Sprinkle the cheese down the middle of the dish over the cannelloni tubes.
- Place the baking dish on a middle rack in the oven for 40mins. You can test that it is cooked by inserting a skewer into a cannelloni tube and if it goes straight through it is cooked.
- Use oven mits to remove from the oven, set on a heatproof rack and allow to cool for 3-4 mins.
- Garnish with freshly chopped parsley to serve.
Video
Notes
- Note 1 I much prefer cooking with fresh spinach than frozen. When I was younger I always used frozen and I was delighted the day I changed my mind and started using fresh. There is much less water and it is fresher!
- Note 2 You might know from many of my recipes that for a tomato sauce combo I use passtata, condensed tomato soup and crushed tomatoes. I vary up that technique for this recipe as I want the additional texture of the diced tomatoes in the dish. So we double that quantity and remove the condensed tomato soup altogether (if you are familiar with my cooking).
- Note 3 For the passta and diced tomatoes, buy the plain ones and add your own seasoning with the Italian herbs, garlic, dried onion, salt and pepper. This is the best way of knowing EXACTLY what goes into your food with no hidden extras.
- Note 4 Dried onion will be found in the herbs and spinces aisle. It is SO much easier to use than buying and chopping an onion and crying over it!! I use this product for SO many recipes!
- Note 5 Regular tasty, cheddar, light or mozzarella are all good cheese options for this recipe.
- Note 6 As there is time in the process, after I have adding the spinach and ricotta filling to the zip lock bag, I place it in the fridge. The idea is that it will be firmed and easier to pipe.
Nutrition
Calories: 270kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 18g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 101mg | Sodium: 269mg | Potassium: 1241mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 4228IU | Vitamin C: 39mg | Calcium: 421mg | Iron: 6mg