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Photograph of Spinach and Ricotta Canneloni

Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni

This wonderful vegetarian pasta bake is made up of a layer of rich, homemade tomato sauce, topped with cannelloni pasta filled with a luscious combination of spinach, ricotta, garlic, parmesan and cheddar cheese, a further layer of tomato sauce, all topped with a layer of mozzarella cheese.

Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian-American
Keyword Cannelloni, spinach and ricotta
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings 4
Author Susan

Ingredients

Marinara Sauce:

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 5 – 6 cloves of garlic, peeled
  • 750g passata
  • around 100ml – 150ml water to swill out the passata container.
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • ½ – 1 teaspoon runny honey (or brown sugar)
  • 3 sprigs of fresh basil
  • ¼ – ½ teaspoon fine salt
  • ¼ – ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • ⅛ – ¼ teaspoon chilli flakes (optional)

Spinach and Ricotta:

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 onion, peeled and chopped
  • 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped (not crushed)
  • 125g fresh baby spinach
  • 250g ricotta cheese
  • 75g mature cheddar cheese, grated
  • 25g parmesan cheese, grated
  • 1 egg
  • ⅛ teaspoon fine salt
  • ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Remaining ingredients:

  • 14 – 15 dried cannelloni tubes, around 150g – 200g. (Make sure you buy tubes which do not need pre-cooking.)
  • 125g grated mozzarella cheese
  • a few fresh basil leaves, shredded

Instructions

  1. Collect all your equipment and ingredients together.

Marinara Sauce:

  1. Put the olive oil into the saucepan over a moderate heat. Add the garlic and cook slowly for 2 minutes.

  2. Add the remaining ingredients, remembering to swill out the passata container with some water, stir well and bring to a simmer. Cook, covered, for 30 minutes until reduced and thickened, stirring from time to time.

  3. Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary. Remove the sprigs of basil and whole cloves of garlic.

Ricotta and Spinach:

  1. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over a moderate heat and add the onion and garlic. Cook gently for 5 minutes, stirring from time to time.

  2. Add the fresh spinach and continue to cook until completely wilted. Depending on the size of your pan, you may need to add the spinach in batches.

  3. Leave to cool then transfer to the centre of a clean tea towel, pull the tea towel up and around the mixture and squeeze as much liquid as possible out of the spinach mix.

  4. Tip into a food processor with remaining ingredients. Blitz until thoroughly mixed.

  5. Transfer to a piping bag with a large, plain nozzle or use a bag you can snip off the end.

Bring it all together:

  1. Pipe the spinach and ricotta filling into the dried cannelloni. You should fill between 14 -15 tubes depending on their size and how much filling you pipe in.

  2. Tip around a quarter to a third of the marinara sauce onto the base of a baking dish and shake the dish to spread evenly.

  3. Lay the filled cannelloni on top and pour over the remaining marinara sauce, ensuring all the cannelloni are covered evenly.

  4. 5 minutes before you are ready to cook the cannelloni, preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 5 (fan 160°C).

  5. Cover with foil and bake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes.

  6. After 30 minutes, remove from the oven, discard the foil and sprinkle over the mozzarella cheese. Put back in the oven for a further 10 -15 minutes or until the cheese has melted and everything is piping hot. (NB If you have prepared this dish ahead of time and are cooking it directly from the fridge, cook for an additional 10 – 15 minutes before removing the foil.)

  7. Garnish with shredded basil and serve hot with a side salad and some extra freshly grated parmesan. It is also delicious with garlic bread.

Recipe Notes

Equipment:

  • kitchen scales and measuring spoons
  • chopping board and knife
  • cast iron casserole dish or heavy saucepan
  • frying pan
  • tea towel
  • food processor
  • piping bag
  • baking dish

Adjustments to the tomato sauce if you are preparing the pasta bake ahead of time:

If you are refrigerating or freezing this dish prior to cooking, add a further 100ml water to the sauce. This is to prevent the bake from drying out; the cannelloni will have absorbed some of the sauce in the fridge/freezer and you need the extra liquid to prevent it drying out whilst baking.