Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni

Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni is classic Italian comfort food. A guaranteed crowd-pleaser. We make ours with Lasagna sheets, rather than cannelloni shells. It is easier and less stressful. Win!

Ingredients (serves 10*)

Sauce

3 finely chopped cloves garlic

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

2 cups tomato puree

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1/3 cup dry white wine

2 tablespoons of finely grated carrot

1 handful basil leaves

salt flakes, ground black pepper

Cannelloni

1 bunch spinach, washed thoroughly and dried

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

750g good quality ricotta

1½ cup grated parmesan

½ teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon lemon rind

2 tablespoons finely shredded basil

salt flakes, ground black pepper

500g fresh lasagna sheets

Method

In a medium saucepan sauté garlic in olive oil. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a pot, heat olive oil and sauté spinach until wilted. Remove and chop finely.
In a mixing bowl combine spinach, ricotta, nutmeg, lemon rind, ½ cup of the parmesan, basil and seasoning.
Cut lasagna sheets into 10cm pieces length-wise.
Along the center of each piece place a large finger-width line of ricotta mixture. Roll up pasta to form a tube.
Cover the bottom of two small lasagna dishes (the width of the dish should be slightly longer than the length of the cannelloni) with a thin layer of sauce. (This mixture will make roughly 20 cannelloni -15x10cm. You may chose to use 1 large lasagna dish.)
Place cannelloni in a row on top of the sauce and then cover with the remaining sauce.
Sprinkle the rest of the parmesan over each dish, cover with foil and bake in a moderate oven for 30-40min.

*Note: If feeding less people you can freeze one of the dishes uncooked. Alternatively, you could just halve the ingredients in the recipe but that would mean only using half a bunch of spinach as well as half a pack of fresh lasagna sheets, therefore we find making two is more economical and you get 2 meals out of 1 effort!