Spinach & Ricotta Cannelloni

Method9 steps · about 1 hr 30 min

1. 1

   Step 1: Peel and crush all eight garlic cloves. Heat all three tablespoons tomato-sauce olive oil in a large pan and fry all the crushed garlic for one minute until fragrant without burning.

   Fry sauce garlic until fragrant · 1 minUses 3 tbsp olive oil for tomato sauce · 8 garlic cloves, crushed, for tomato sauce

2. 2

   Step 2: Open all four four-hundred-gram tomato cans. Add all their tomatoes and juice, all the sugar (3 tbsp) and vinegar, and the separate tomato-sauce salt and black pepper to the garlic-oil pan. Bring to a simmer and cook for twenty minutes, stirring occasionally, until thick. Wash and chop the small basil bunch and stir all its leaves into the cooked sauce. Divide the whole sauce between two or more shallow ovenproof dishes with enough room for all the filled pasta tubes side by side.

   Simmer tomato sauce until thick · 20 minUses The whole cooked garlic-oil pan · 3 tbsp caster sugar for tomato sauce · 2 tbsp red wine vinegar for tomato sauce · 4 × 400 g cans chopped tomatoes with juice · 1 small bunch fresh basil leaves · Salt for tomato sauce, to taste · Black pepper for tomato sauce, to taste

3. 3

   Step 3: Beat all five hundred grams mascarpone with all three tablespoons milk until smooth. Season with the separate mascarpone-sauce salt and black pepper and keep the entire topping sauce ready.

   Uses 2 × 250 g tubs mascarpone, 500 g total, for topping sauce · 3 tbsp milk for topping sauce · Salt for mascarpone topping sauce, to taste · Black pepper for mascarpone topping sauce, to taste

4. 4

   Step 4: Wash and drain all the fresh spinach (1 kg). Put it in a large colander and pour over boiling water to wilt it, working in batches as needed. Discard the draining water. When safe to handle, squeeze the wilted spinach thoroughly to remove its excess water.

   Uses 1 kg fresh spinach · Kettle of boiling water to wilt washed spinach, discarded after draining

5. 5

   Step 5: Roughly chop all the squeezed spinach. Grate only the separate one hundred grams filling Parmesan and mix it with all the chopped spinach and all seven hundred and fifty grams ricotta. Season this complete filling with its separate salt, black pepper and large pinch grated nutmeg.

   Uses All wilted squeezed spinach · 100 g Parmesan, grated, for filling · 3 × 250 g tubs ricotta, 750 g total, for filling · 1 large pinch grated nutmeg for filling · Salt for spinach-ricotta filling, to taste · Black pepper for spinach-ricotta filling, to taste

6. 6

   Step 6: Heat the oven to200 °C /180 °C fan/gas6. Put the entire prepared filling in a piping bag, or a strong food bag with its corner snipped off, and fill all four hundred grams DRY cannelloni tubes.

   Uses All mixed filling · 400 g dried cannelloni pasta tubes

7. 7

   Step 7: Lay all the filled tubes side by side over the tomato sauce in the prepared dishes. Spoon the complete mascarpone topping sauce over them. Grate all the separate eighty-five grams topping Parmesan (85 g), slice both one-hundred-and-twenty-five-gram mozzarella balls and distribute all this topping cheese over the dishes.

   Uses All filled tubes · All prepared tomato-sauce dishes · All prepared topping sauce · 85 g Parmesan, grated, for topping · 2 × 125 g mozzarella balls, sliced

8. 8

   Step 8: Bake all the freshly assembled cannelloni dishes at200 °C /180 °C fan/gas6 for thirty to thirty-five minutes until golden, bubbling and thoroughly hot, with the filled pasta tubes tender. Continue baking if the pasta is not yet tender.

   Bake fresh cannelloni until golden bubbling and tender · 35 minUses All assembled fresh dishes

9. 9

   Step 9: Remove the cooked dishes from the oven and let them stand for five minutes. Serve the complete batch as ten portions. Cool any leftovers briefly and refrigerate promptly; if freezing cooked portions, use suitable containers and freeze on the day they are made.

   Rest baked cannelloni before serving · 5 minUses All cooked cannelloni