Pasta night just went next-level! We love savoury ricotta recipes and you won’t find many as deliciously tasty as spinach and ricotta cannelloni. This recipe makes cheese the star with four different cheeses including our Olympus Ricotta, and a rich and flavourful tomato sauce. Packed full of protein, it makes the perfect meat-free Monday meal.
There are a few parts to this spinach and ricotta cannelloni recipe, but don’t be daunted. They are all super-easy to execute. If you can, grating your blocks from scratch rather than using the packaged grated cheese will help to ensure you keep additives out of your dish. First we make our delicious herb-infused tomato sauce. Next, we make the filling. Finally, we pipe it in there, pour the sauce and more cheese on the top before popping in the oven to let it all bubble away.
Meanwhile we whip through the dishes, pop a quick salad together, and have time to relax with a glass of wine and congratulate ourselves on the ah-mazing smells coming from the kitchen. Love an oven prepared meal!
If this sounds like your type of night, let’s dive in and create shall we!
This recipe was inspired by Nagi’s Spinach Ricotta Cannelloni from Recipe Tin Eats. Who can go past four different cheeses? Not us!
Check out more of our ricotta recipes or find out where you can get your hands on our ricotta via our stockists page.
Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni
Ingredients
- 1 packet dried canneloni (about 18-20 tubes)
- 500 grams Olympus Ricotta cheese
- 150 grams mozzarella cheese (grated to about 1 cup)
- 185 grams tasty cheese (grated to about 1 1/2 cups)
- 50 grams parmesan cheese (grated to about 1/3 cup)
- 250 grams frozen spinach, thawed
- 1 egg, large
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 Tb extra virgin olive oil
- 800 grams tomato passata
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 handful fresh basil, chopped or 1 tsp dried
- 1 pinch nutmeg
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tso pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celscius.
- Lightly grease a large baking dish such as a lasagne dish (larger than 22 x 25 is best)
- Add thawed spinach to your colander and allow to drain in the sink.
- Heat a large frying pan to medium heat. Add 1 Tb olive oil. Mince 2 cloves of garlic, and add the diced onion, cooking for a few minutes.
- Add tomato passata, water and ½ tsp each of salt and pepper. Stir through and bring to boil before simmering for approximately 5-10 minutes. Set aside when ready. Don’t worry if your sauce appears too thin. The pasta will absorb some of the liquid as it cooks in your oven.
- To make your filling, press excess liquid from spinach with a paper towel, before adding to a large bowl. Add your ricotta, grated parmesan, about 1 cup of grated tasty cheese, reserving ½ cup for the top.
- Add 1 egg, your remaining clove of garlic, minced, a pinch of nutmeg and around ½ tsp of salt and pepper, or to taste. Mix together.
- Add some of your tomato sauce to lightly cover the base of your dish, which will help to ensure the bottom isn’t dry and pasta doesn’t stick while cooking.
- Transfer spinach and ricotta filling to a sturdy piping bag, before piping into each cannelloni tube. Lay each tube close beside the next in your dish. If you don’t have a piping bag you can simply use a knife to scoop up filling and push through your tubes.
- Cover your cannelloni with your rich tomato sauce, cover with alfoil and pop into the oven for 25 minutes.
- Remove foil. Sprinkle remaining mozzarella and tasty cheese over the top. Place back in your oven uncovered for approximately 12 minutes, or until cheese melts on top.
- Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.