Cannelloni stuffed with spinach and ricotta

How to make cannelloni stuffed with spinach or cannelloni ricotta e spinaci .

Cannelloni ( cannelloni in Italian) are one of the many ways pasta can be found and eaten.

These are square or rectangular plates that are filled with a farce whether it is meat, fish, vegetables or mixtures of various foods, they are bathed in bechamel sauce and baked for a few minutes to give them heat and brown on the surface.

They are one of the most versatile pasta elaborations that exist and a dish of use in all the rule, because the filling admits of everything, although the cannelloni stuffed with spinach that we present today we have made “ex profeso” for the occasion.

We have cheered the filling with ricotta or ricotta and toasted pine nuts , but this can be varied to taste and, always with head and judgment. Add the ingredients that you like the most at home to the farce.

Cannelloni are one of the pasta dishes that I like the most at home and were the most successful at my parents’ house.

My mother used to prepare them only on special occasions or on Sundays because, although they are easy to cook, they are a bit laborious since they involve various elaborations.

The pasta on one side, the filling on the other and, finally, the bechamel sauce . Having the last two facts in advance, it does not take long to assemble a cannelloni platter, so it is convenient to organize yourself well. So they don’t take as much work.

Preparation of the bechamel sauce for the cannelloni

1. We start with the bechamel sauce which, since it requires a long cooking time without excessive care, allows us to focus on other parts of the preparation at the same time. 
2. In a wide skillet, heat the butter and, once melted, add the flour.
3. Stir to incorporate both ingredients and cook the roux (so called the butter and flour mixture) for a couple of minutes to eliminate the raw taste.
4. We add the cold milk, starting with 100 ml and with some rods, without stopping stirring, we integrate it with the roux.
5. We add the rest of the milk and continue beating with the rods to avoid lumps.
6. Season to taste and add, also, a pinch of ground white pepper and grated nutmeg (the latter is optional, which not everyone likes the taste of this species).
7. We cook the bechamel sauce over very low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally so that it does not catch on the base of the pan and is loose.

Preparation of the stuffing of the cannelloni

1. Meanwhile we boil the spinach in a saucepan with plenty of salt water for the time indicated by the manufacturer.
2. Once ready, drain them well, removing excess water as much as possible.
3. We can use a soup serving pot to squeeze the spinach, placed in a mesh strainer, and thus remove the water before lightly chopping them with a sharp knife.
4. Toast the pine nuts in a frying pan over medium heat, being careful not to brown excessively. Add them to the spinach along with the cottage cheese and season to taste, but generously.
5. We remove to integrate and finish the filling of our cannelloni. We reserve.

Cook the cannelloni pasta. Filling and assembly

1. In another large saucepan and with plenty of boiling salted water, cook the pasta plates for cannelloni, following the instructions given by the manufacturer.
2. Once cooked, transfer them to a bowl with cold water to cut the cooking. We drain them, we place them separated on a damp cloth and we reserve them until the moment of using them.
3. We assemble the cannelloni by filling each of the plates with the spinach mixture and rolling the plates to form the characteristic rolls.
4. We cover the base of a baking dish with bechamel sauce and place the cannelloni on it.

Baking and final presentation of cannelloni stuffed with spinach

1. Once we have all the cannelloni prepared and placed on the tray, we cover them with the rest of the bechamel sauce.
2. Sprinkle with grated cheese to taste, skip it.
3. We introduce the tray (or individual dishes) in the oven, which we will have preheated with heat above and below at 190ºC for 15 minutes.
4. After this time, we adjust the position of the oven to grill and gratin the surface for the time necessary for it to brown.

We serve immediately, very warm, along with more grated cheese so that diners are served to taste.

You can see all the step by step photos of this recipe for cannelloni stuffed with spinach and ricotta  in this album.

Tips for some cannelloni stuffed with yummy spinach

• We can accompany these cannelloni stuffed with spinach with a tomato and cucumber salad, carrot and onion or similar, seasoned simply with oil, vinegar and salt.
• It is a hearty dish that does not need much more to form a complete meal. If you want to accompany the filling with some meat, I recommend you see the recipe for cannelloni stuffed with spinach and ham , another option of yummy.
• The spinach filling can be enriched with a garlic and onion-based sauce to which other vegetables can be added , but in a small amount and without taking away from the spinach that is the main element of the dish.
• In this case we fry the chosen vegetables over low heat and add the boiled and chopped spinach to them. We proceed with the rest of the recipe in the same way.