Sometimes you just need tubes of pasta full of iron-rich spinach and creamy cheese, enveloped in a rich garlicky tomato sauce. And of course topped with melted toasty cheese
- 400g spinach
- 6 tbsp olive oil
- 1 egg
- 30g parmesan, grated
- 250g ricotta
- 30g basil, roughly chopped
- 150g (around 15 tubes) dry cannelloni
- 4 cloves garlic, finely sliced
- 400g passata
- ½ tsp sugar
- Salt and pepper
- 40g cheddar, grated
- Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large deep pan
- Sauté the spinach until it wilts then tip into a sieve – you can do this in stages if the spinach doesn’t doesn’t fit at once
- Press and squeeze out all the liquid from the spinach
- Then leave to cool for a bit, and then chop the spinach
- Put the spinach in a bowl, add the egg, parmesan, ricotta and half the basil
- Stir together well and set to one side
- Heat the other 4 tbsp oil over a medium heat and add the garlic slices
- Sauté until garlic is golden and then add the passata, sugar plus half a tin of water
- Stir together, season with salt and plenty of black pepper
- Heat to a bubble, cook for 5 mins and then stir in the rest of the basil
- Turn off the heat and set to one side
- Pre-heat the oven to 170C fan/190C
- Use a teaspoon (or, if you’re fancy, a piping bag) to fill the cannelloni tubes one at a time. There should be enough mixture to the fill each one to overflowing
- As you fill them, place the filled tubes neatly in rows in an ovenproof ceramic dish
- Pour the tomato sauce over the top and sprinkle with grated cheddar
- Bake for 45 mins until the top is browned and the pasta is soft when you stick a sharp knife into one of the tubes
- Leave to stand for 5 mins before serving so as not to burn the inside of your mouth off with molten sauce
Sophie cooks 