Spinach & ricotta cannelloni

Spinach & ricotta cannelloni

Keep a few portions of this vegetarian classic in the freezer and you'll never be stuck for a satisfying supper

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Makes 10 servings

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 50 mins

Cook time

Cook 40 mins

Vegetarian Freezable

Vegetarian

Method

  1. First make the tomato sauce. Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the garlic for 1 min. Add the sugar, vinegar, tomatoes and some seasoning and simmer for 20 mins, stirring occasionally, until thick. Add the basil and divide the sauce between 2 or more shallow ovenproof dishes (see Tips for freezing, below). Set aside. Make a sauce by beating the mascarpone with the milk until smooth, season, then set aside.
  2. Put the spinach in a large colander and pour over a kettle of boiling water to wilt it (you may need to do this in batches). When cool enough to handle squeeze out the excess water. Roughly chop the spinach and mix in a large bowl with 100g Parmesan and ricotta. Season well with salt, pepper and the nutmeg.
  3. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Using a piping bag or plastic food bag with the corner snipped off, squeeze the filling into the cannelloni tubes. Lay the tubes, side by side, on top of the tomato sauce and spoon over the mascarpone sauce. Top with Parmesan and mozzarella. You can now freeze the cannelloni, uncooked, or you can cook it first and then freeze. Bake for 30-35 mins until golden and bubbling. Remove from oven and let stand for 5 mins before serving.
Try

Variations

Make the recipe healthier by doubling the quantity of tomato sauce. Use to top cannelloni instead of creamy sauce. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs. To make it meaty, fill the cannelloni with a meat ragu or try adding some chopped fried bacon to the spinach mix.

Tips for freezing cooked cannelloni

Freeze individual cooked portions in ovenproof dishes or foil trays. Simply reduce the cooking time slightly when re-heating.

Tips for freezing

Allow the cannelloni to cool at room temperature before covering well with cling film, then freeze. Always freeze on the day you make it. Defrost uncooked cannelloni in the fridge overnight, then cook as per recipe. To cook from frozen: heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3 and cook, covered with foil, for 1 hr 25 mins. Remove foil, turn oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 and cook, uncovered, for 20-30 mins.

Per serving

711 kcalories, protein 30.0g, carbohydrate 44.0g, fat 47.0 g, saturated fat 27.0g, fibre 5.0g, sugar 15.0g, salt 1.59 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, June 2010.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 21-40

  • Binder photo LRademaker

    08 January 2011

    LRademaker rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    A bit of work, but tastes absolutely delicious.

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  • Binder photo katia

    18 February 2011

    katia rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    have made it twice, used some bechamel sauce for the filling and came out even tastier!

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  • Binder photo Patou

    31 March 2011

    Patou rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This is a great recipe: tasty and easy. The simplest way to stuff the cannelloni tubes is to use a round ended knife to scoop the mixture off the bowl and push it into the tubes. It is quite therapeutic really, only don't make this if you're in a hurry! I tried to reduce the fat content by making a bechamel sauce with semi-skimmed milk and a little gruyere, plus a bit more gruyere on top; also I didn't include wine in the tomato sauce to make it lighter. I used lots of fresh thyme and basil as well as a tsp of smoked paprika - love the stuff - and it turned out full of flavour.

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  • Binder photo Kath

    02 April 2011

    Kath rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This recipe was a real crowd pleaser! I halved the quantities to see if we'd like the recipe...and we did! I've got disposable piping bags which made the filling of the cannelloni tubes a breeze, and the tomato sauce base was delicious (although, I must confess I used passata rather than tinned tomatoes). This will be a regular on the dinner table for my family!!

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  • Binder photo Kath

    02 April 2011

    Kath commented on this recipe

    This recipe was a real crowd pleaser! I halved the quantities to see if we'd like the recipe...and we did! I've got disposable piping bags which made the filling of the cannelloni tubes a breeze, and the tomato sauce base was delicious (although, I must confess I used passata rather than tinned tomatoes). This will be a regular on the dinner table for my family!!

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  • Binder photo Banjo

    20 May 2011

    Banjo commented on this recipe

    Looking forward to making this for our guests at the weekend. Have read all your tips and will let you know how I get on!! I could eat it now it sounds so yummy!

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  • Binder photo njb1001

    21 June 2011

    njb1001 rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Really tasty - needs a good amount seasoning. Used frozen spinach, forgot all about my roasted pine nuts and mozarella, but it still tasted great. My pasta was not quite cooked, so I covered it in foil & put it back in the oven for a few minutes. I also thought is was theraputic stuffing the rolls with my fingers! Will definitely cook again for guests & serve with green salad!

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  • Binder photo Gwendy

    02 July 2011

    Gwendy rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Super, we have made this again and again and portion it for the freezer for our lunches. Very tasty

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  • Binder photo pandora_mary

    11 August 2011

    pandora_mary rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    A fair amount of work and some very indulgent ingredients, but an excellent result. Definitely worth making every once in a while!

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  • Binder photo ladynellington

    27 September 2011

    ladynellington rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I made the 'healthier version' last night (and made a mighty mess as I didn't have a piping bag). My husband looked at it and asked 'Is there no meat in it?' but after a mouthful pretty much licked the dish clean! This is not necessarily a quick weekday fix, but boy-oh-boy was it worth the effort!

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  • Binder photo Kay

    13 October 2011

    Kay commented on this recipe

    I halved the quantities (as a test run) and found it to be a bit dry! Otherwise, absolutely delicious. Should I add more milk or make a larger quantity of tomato sauce? Also, could I prepare this the day before?

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  • Binder photo Emma-h

    26 October 2011

    Emma-h commented on this recipe

    I also usually use chopped frozen spinach for mine, works great just make sure u squeeze most of the water out so its not sloppy, but leave some so its not dry. I use a combination of ricotta and feta cheese for extra flavor which makes it delicious. I just put about half of the tomato sauce on the bottom of the dish, then the rest i pour over the top of the filled tubes. I leave out the mascarpone to make it lighter and just put a bit of grated cheese on the top of the tomato - yum!

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  • Binder photo Cheryl

    12 November 2011

    Cheryl rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Absolutely delicious and the first time I've made cannelloni. Each aspect of the recipe was straighforward. I didn't have a piping bag so filling the pasta tubes was tricky, despite using a plastic bag as suggested. The spinach needs to be chopped really finely to help filling the tubes (which I will do next time). I haved the recipe and it made 5 good portions. I will definately make it again, but I will also try and adapt it for my carnivore husband who likes his meat!

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  • Binder photo yaz

    14 November 2011

    yaz rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Absolutely delicious! It was very easy to make and tasted really impressive. One guest said, she makes cannelloni a lot and it's never tasted this good! Changes: I halved the recipe and I blended the spinach filling so make it easier to fill the cannelloni tubes. Tip: I used a sandwich bag with corner cut off to fill the tubes. I held the tip inside the tube when filling and it worked really well. It did look as it there wasn't enough of the mascarpone topping but it does spread in the oven.

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  • Binder photo Sandra

    17 January 2012

    Sandra rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Regular favourite in our house. Even the kids love it. Have made it as a lasagne before to save time (& mess) alternating the tomato & spinach sauce, then topping with the mascarpone mixture.

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  • Binder photo wrinkly

    11 February 2012

    wrinkly rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    suggestion it is easier to use frozen hached spinach withcream it saves all the work of blending and saves all the the hard work of blending

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  • Binder photo Sammy

    12 February 2012

    Sammy commented on this recipe

    delicious! i use verdi lasanga sheets, softened in boiled water spoon in and roll! make it all in one go and freeze the rest!

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  • Binder photo Sharon

    17 February 2012

    Sharon rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Very nice. My only complaints are that it was a little too dry and quite high fat. I will definitely make it again, and next time I think I'll use a basic cheese sauce as the topping instead of the mascarpone sauce, as this accounted for about half of the fat content. Still, a very enjoyable dish.

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  • Binder photo wrinkly

    22 February 2012

    wrinkly commented on this recipe

    we made this the night and got half way through and realised we had nomascarpone cheese had a good look through the larder and found a packet of bechamel sauce ,tried it and it was very good

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  • Binder photo babytree

    24 February 2012

    babytree rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Really yummy! Although I'm vegetarian my husband and 3 children are commited carnivores so sneaking a veggie meal by them is usually tricky - the normal comment is 'nice but could have done with a couple of sausages on the side'! I'm pleased to report that no such comment followed dinner tonight - just lots of empty plates. I found the tomato sauce rather sweet, and though I'm not complaining, might use less sugar next time. I also used cheddar in place of the parmesan, not good for the waistline I know, but very tasty. I used a good quality icing bag (Lakeland!) to pipe the mixture (frozen spinach as suggested by another reviewer) and it wasn't too fiddly. Definitely going to be making it again.

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Makes 10 servings

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 50 mins

Cook time

Cook 40 mins

Vegetarian Freezable

Vegetarian

Ingredients

FOR THE TOMATO SAUCE

FOR THE TOPPING

  • 2 x 250g tubs mascarpone
  • 3 tbsp milk
  • 85g Parmesan (or vegetarian alternative), grated
  • 2 x 125g balls mozzarella , sliced

FOR THE FILLING

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Per serving

711 kcalories, protein 30.0g, carbohydrate 44.0g, fat 47.0 g, saturated fat 27.0g, fibre 5.0g, sugar 15.0g, salt 1.59 g

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