2013 Cooking Club Week 36: Baked Cannelloni

ChewChew

Hi All, sorry for the late post and the crappy photos. I only have the camera on my phone these days!


So I thought I'd go for something vegetarian and healthy and most importantly.... super tasty and super easy! Baked cannelloni! Here goes... and I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

8-10 cannelloni tubes
A few fresh basil leaves
Parmesan cheese
200g fresh spinach
200g cottage cheese
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 egg yolk
1 carton of passata (approx 400g)
pinch of sugar
1 clove of garlic
salt and pepper





Method:

put the spinach in a large pot with 2-3 tbsp of water and let it cook gently for approx 5 mins until the spinach has wilted down and is a deep green colour, and chop it up.



in a separate bowl, put the cottage cheese, egg yoke, some of the basil, nutmeg, salt and pepper together and mix.



add in the spinach and mix



then fill the cannelloni tubes. I find it easier to do this with your hands or use a piping bag.




then in a separate bowl put the passata, garlic, the pinch of sugar, the rest of the basil and some salt and pepper and mix and pour over the cannelloni then sprinkle on some parmesan cheese




Bake at 180 for approx 40 minutes and then serve. I love it with side salad, or just vegetables.

Enjoy

Mrs Fox

I adore spinach and ricotta cannelloni so will definitely give this one with cottage cheese a go. Is there much difference between these two cheeses?

ChewChew

I've actually never tasted ricotta cheese for some reason, and have only ever made it with cottage cheese so I have nothing to compare it with, Sorry. But the cottage cheese is really good in it

BaZmO*

Forgot to say that I made this on Saturday. I was looking for something quick, easy and tasty to make for dinner, and luckily enough this delivered on all 3. Really nice dish.

Next time I make it i think I'll double up because the dish I have fits exactly 16 Cannelloni tubes. I also think the oven (new house) was too hot as it was done in 30 minutes.

Was surprised to see Cottage Cheese used instead of Ricotta but was willing to give it a go. I always follow recipes to the letter on the first try, and then adjust if needs be. The Cottage Cheese is much healthier though.

Just on the quantities, I used 250g fresh spinach 250g cottage cheese and just about enough to fill 8 tubes, I did use a piping bag (plastic bag with corner cut off!) to fill them, so maybe that was a factor.

No pics unfortunately, but thanks for the recipe OP.

hdowney

Excellent recipe. Italian is my lifeblood and I adore Cannelloni so you can imagine how thrilled I am with this recipe. A nice crunchy side salad and a glass of Venetian wine and perfecto

Mrs Fox

BaZmO* wrote: »

I did use a piping bag (plastic bag with corner cut off!) to fill them

Quick Q -- is it an elephant super strong plastic you're using? I've used one of the ziplocks, which I thought was fairly durable, and it kept bursting. I'd then stuff the tubes by hand.
I've quit using cannelloni tubes now and instead I'd roll up the filling in fresh lasagne sheets.

BaZmO*

Mrs Fox wrote: »

Quick Q -- is it an elephant super strong plastic you're using? I've used one of the ziplocks, which I thought was fairly durable, and it kept bursting. I'd then stuff the tubes by hand.

Ha, not quite. I have a box of small freezer bags that come in a roll, that i never use for freezing because they're not ziplocks (you're supposed to just tie them, which is a bit useless. The plastic is closer to what you'd get in a standard carrier bag rather that the clear plastic you get in the ziplocks, which probably makes them more durable. I think they're Dunnes own brand, I'll check later and let you know.

Mrs Fox wrote: »

I've quit using cannelloni tubes now and instead I'd roll up the filling in fresh lasagne sheets.

I think these would've been pretty impossible to fill without piping them tbh, so I can see why you went with sheets.

ChewChew

I honestly just find picking it up with my hands and stuffing it the easiest. It's whatever is handiest for you. I have a crap loadof piping bags that I got on eBay so check that out because they are cheap as chips and so handy to have. You could also use grease proof paper to pipe if your bag isn't sturdy enough. Just roll it into the shape of a large cone and use Sellotape to hold together.

juke

Chewy, so want to try this - have to source gluten free pasta that's edible first

annamcmahon

juke wrote: »

Chewy, so want to try this - have to source gluten free pasta that's edible first

I get a corn one in dunnes. It's in a green packet and it's really good

ChewChew

juke wrote: »

Chewy, so want to try this - have to source gluten free pasta that's edible first

Supervalu also do a fabulous range of gluten free now! Hope you can find it

Mrs Fox

Made the cannelloni for dinner this evening, along with some meatballs on the side to cater the carnivores.
It was a simple dish to prepare, although I still had to stuff the tubes by hand. The mixture filled up 8 tubes.
Glad I tried cottage cheese, it's nice and light, but I still prefer ricotta for it's creaminess.
Thanks OP.

Loire

That looks so good I think I'll put it in my bucket list

Malari

For some reason I assumed the recipe was ricotta not cottage cheese so that's what I bought! Woops. It was still lovely, so moreish. I put some mushrooms in the tomato sauce, as they needed to be used up.

I've not made this without a cheesy sauce before but I really liked it, nice and quick mid-week dinner. :-)

wmpdd3

I'll be making this tomorrow with lasagne sheets and various left over cheeses from x-mass and a bit of goats cheese. I refuse to buy more cheese till the little bits in the fridge are gone!

Tusky

Made this last night and it was great! I had to use lasagna sheets so just part-boiled them and then rolled them into tubes. Didn't have enough cottage cheese so mixed in about 30% feta - it tasted lovely.

wmpdd3

I blitzed various cheeses in the processor and added goats cheese and spinach.

The tomatoe sauce was lovely and so simple.

carleigh

Im vegetarian and made this on Wednesday evening, and it was delicious! When I cook for my parents, its hard to keep them happy unless there is meat on the plate, but they loved it! My dad even had it again yesterday, and my mother just rang from the supermarket asking for the ingredients so she can make it herself. I added some chilli flakes into the passata to spice it up a bit. Thanks for such a fab recipe!

Faith

I made this tonight. I was a little skeptical because I've never had cottage cheese (nor have I wanted to!) and I'm not a huge fan of tomato sauces. Nonetheless, I'm trying to eat more vegetarian meals. I made a few modifications: I put the tomato sauce at the bottom, made a béchamel sauce to go over the top, and I sprinkled it with sunflower seeds for a crunch (I wanted pine nuts, but the shop didn't have any).

Verdict: Delicious! It was really moreish and tasty. I actually think the béchamel was unnecessary and, the next time, I'll try it without. The cottage cheese was creamy enough - and not manky like I thought it would be!

I'll definitely make this again

Oh, also, I had to on its own, but next time, I'd definitely have a crunchy green salad and a cold glass of white wine