We had this for dinner on the weekend, Spinach Ricotta Cannelloni. When we started making our own Pasta, I discovered making Cannelloni became a heck of a lot easier. I was never very patient when it came to stuffing dry pasta forms, now I make the ingredients and wrap the pasta sheet around them and bake them. This is a very simple dish, as in it's simple to make when you have the ingredients at hand, the flavour however, is extraordinary. Some of the simplest foods really are the best.
When I was growing up, we had Lasagne and Spaghetti often enough, but any other Italian meals I had were either from a restaurant, prepackaged or from a can. I discovered a little Italian place in my twenties, that made everything from scratch. I had never had Cannelloni before then...I fell in love with their food after my first sampling. They used heavy cream often, and made many "Rosa" sauces that I remember. I came up with my own style of Cannelloni and Rosa Sauce after experimenting with Fresh Pasta.
For the Cannelloni Pasta, I've used the Spinach Pasta we make and filled it with a combination of Ricotta, and vegetables, using more Spinach then the others. The finished ingredients, once baked, is a very satisfying and filling meal. Half of the Cannelloni we made was more then enough. With the ingredient list, I used a portion in the filling, as the base and in the White Sauce, prior to pouring over the Cannelloni. Once I added the Tomato and Veg, I had a Rosa Sauce.
With Cannelloni, I find the dish rich enough with the Ricotta and Rosa Sauce, with this recipe, I have never tried Tuma before, it's similar to the Ricotta and wanted to try it out. I crumbled some on top to see what the results would be. Since I did that, I didn't add additional cheese to the top when baking. It had more then enough calories the way I made it. This is a good Vegetarian Dish to make for those days we choose to go without meat too.
Spinach Pasta
We made enough for 4 portions, one dish, we split and had for dinner with a small spinach salad, the other portions, I have reserved to have use another day.
Ingredients for 4 Portions of Cannelloni
One roll of Spinach Pasta - Rolled out evenly
Pre-cut the pasta to fit into your baking dish.
We used two sheets and two dishes to bake with as I let the other cool while we had dinner. then stored it to package up the next day, but you can add it all into one baking dish, just make sure it has a lid, or cover the dish with foil when baking.
Pre-heat your oven to 350 F
Mixture
2 TBSPS Ricotta
2 TBSPS Tuma
1 Good Handful of Chopped Fresh Spinach Leaves, Diced
1/4 Zucchini, Diced2 Medium Sized Tomatoes, Diced
1 Cups of Breadcrumbs
1/2 Cup Tomato Sauce
1 TSP Lemon Juice
Spices added to the dish
1/2 TSP Basil
1/4 TSP Oregano
Salt and Pepper
We sprinkled half of the spices into the filling then mixed, a quarter of the spices were sprinkled into the Roux and the rest over the vegetable base prior to adding our Cannelloni Rolls.
For the Cannelloni mixture, add the Ricotta, Spinach, 1/4 of the diced Tomato and Zucchini, all of the breadcrumbs, lemon Juice and thoroughly mix together. The Breadcrumbs act as a binder and keep the ingredients in place after it is baked.
On the base of your baking dish, add the remaining Zucchini, Tomato and any Spinach you have left.
Roll the mixture into the dough.
Place the filled Cannelloni on the Vegetable bed.
Break up and crumble the Tuma over top.
Cover it all with your Tomato Sauce, then your Rosa Sauce.
Making a Roux or White Sauce.
I added what was left the tomato sauce and vegetables for the "Rosa" colour, then layered over the Tomato Sauce. For timing, I made the sauce first.
For the Roux
1 TBSP Butter
1/4 Cup Flour
1/2 Cup Milk
1 Clove Garlic
Once thickened, add in remaining Tomatoes Vegetables.
Cover, place in the oven and after 30 minutes, DINNER!
The Cannelloni is very similar to what I remember from that Italian Store, the sauce is almost as rich, but I'll stick to milk. The Cheeses make this dish rich enough for my tastes. I'll have other Italian variations in future, I do love the variety Italian meals give me.
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