Cannelloni with ricotta and spinach: recipe

Cannelloni is one of the popular dishes of Italian cuisine. These are pasta in the form of tubes filled with spinach, soft cheese or meat stuffing, seasoned with sauce and baked in the oven under a layer of parmesan. To many, this dish tastes like Italian lasagna, only it looks much more interesting and unusual. In our article, we will talk about how to cook step-by-step cannelloni with ricotta and spinach. Recipes with photos of ready-made dishes will be presented below.

Cooking recommendations

Even a novice hostess can bake cannelloni with a recipe with spinach and ricotta. The main thing is to follow the sequence of actions during cooking and take into account all the advice from experienced chefs. The most important recommendations are presented below:

1. It is recommended to boil the pasta tubes before stuffing and cool. To do this, cannelloni is dipped in a large amount of boiling salted water, and after 2 minutes, pasta is transferred to a bowl of cold water.
2. Depending on the taste, the ratio of cheese to spinach may be different. You can put more ricotta and less greens in the filling, or vice versa.
3. The dish will be juicy thanks to bechamel sauce. And so that a milk film does not form on the surface of the cooked sauce, at the very end of cooking it is recommended to put a piece of soft oil (20 g) in it.

Classic Cannelloni Recipe

The famous Italian dish has long been a favorite throughout the world. Spinach filling and traditional whey cheese for pasta in the form of tubes turns out to be both tasty and healthy. In addition, a large amount of sauce makes the dish very juicy and satisfying. In general, the process of making cannelloni with ricotta and spinach consists of the following steps:

1. Preparing the filling for stuffing the tubes.
2. Cannelloni boiling according to package instructions.
3. Assembly of the dish.
4. Roasting.

Let's consider each stage in more detail.

How to make juicy cannelloni filling?

Both fresh and frozen spinach are suitable for this dish. Cannelloni with ricotta will turn out equally tasty in the first and second case. The filling for a dish of frozen spinach is prepared as follows:

1. Crush the garlic (2 cloves) with the flat side of the knife and fry in a pan with olive oil for 1 minute, then remove it to the side.
2. Without defrosting spinach (200 g), put it in aromatic oil. Cook with stirring for 7 minutes.
3. When the liquid has completely evaporated, salt and pepper the spinach. After that, put it in a bowl and cool.
4. Combine the cooled spinach with ricotta (200 g). Stir the filling.

Sauce for the dish

Bechamel is an ideal sauce not only for lasagna, but also for cannelloni - with spinach, ricotta or minced meat. Almost every housewife knows how to cook it:

1. Put the pan on a small fire, put butter (30 g) in it and melt it.
2. Add a tablespoon of sifted flour. Stir to make the mass homogeneous, without lumps.
3. Pour 200 ml of milk and 150 ml of cream into a thin stream. In doing so, constantly stir the contents of the pan.
4. Bring the sauce to a thick consistency over medium heat, not forgetting to constantly stir it.
5. At the end of cooking, add salt, black pepper and grated nutmeg to it.

Assembling and baking cannelloni with bechamel sauce

To stuff pasta tubes (8 pcs.) With the filling, they should be pre-boiled for two minutes. After the sauce is ready, you can proceed to the formation of the dish:

1. Pour the bottom of the baking dish with sauce.
2. Remove boiled cannelloni from cold water and fill with filling.
3. Put stuffed with spinach and ricotta cannelloni in a baking dish on top of the sauce. It is advisable to lay out the tubes in one layer, then they are better soaked in sauce and get tastier.
4. Pour pasta with the remaining sauce and crush with grated parmesan (30 g).
5. According to this recipe, cannelloni with ricotta and spinach should be baked in an oven preheated to 180 ° for about half an hour. Turn on the grill a few minutes before cooking to allow the cheese to brown.
6. It is recommended to cool slightly before serving.

Stuffed Cannelloni with Tomato Sauce

The next dish is prepared with the addition of tomatoes. His taste is slightly different than that of traditional cannelloni with ricotta and spinach, but this is no less interesting. The dish is prepared in the following sequence:

1. Pour a little olive oil into a pan and sauté onion on it until transparent, and then garlic for 1 minute.
2. Add tomatoes chopped in cubes (6 pcs.) Or put tomatoes from a can (800 ml) in their own juice.
3. If necessary, add a little water to the tomatoes and simmer them until tender with onions. At the end of cooking, add oregano, a little sugar, salt, pepper.
4. Cut spinach (400 g) and stain in a pan with water. After this, drain the excess liquid, cool the greens and combine with ricotta (250 g). Add spices, squeezed garlic (2 cloves) and grated nutmeg to taste.
5. Fill a pastry syringe with filling.
6. Stuff the boiled cannelloni with spinach and ricotta.
7. Put the tubes in a baking dish directly on the tomato sauce. Top them with cream (120 ml) and sprinkle with grated Parmesan.
8. Cook in the oven for 45 minutes at 180 °.

Spinach and ricotta cannelloni stuffed with cream sauce

When preparing this dish, you can use not only bechamel, but also other sauces, for example, based on cream. In this case, the cannelloni with ricotta and spinach will be prepared in the following sequence:

1. In olive oil, fry the garlic crushed with a knife for a minute, then remove it from the pan.
2. Put fresh or frozen spinach (350 g) in the heated oil and cook it for several minutes. At the end add salt and spices. Remove from heat.
3. Boil cannelloni (400 g) until half cooked.
4. Combine the cooled spinach with ricotta (350 g). Stuff the pasta with the resulting mass and put them into a refractory form.
5. Pour cream of any fat content (500 ml) into a saucepan, bring to a boil and add cream cheese (50 g) to them. Stirring, wait until it is completely dissolved. The sauce will immediately thicken. You can add salt and Italian herbs to your taste.
6. Pour the tubules in the form of hot sauce. Send the dish to the oven (200 °) for 25 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese 5 minutes before the end of cooking.

Stuffed with Ricotta and Spinach Cannelloni by Jamie Oliver

We offer the following recipe for Italian dishes from the famous chef:

1. Frozen spinach (400 g) is laid out in a frying pan with heated oil and over low heat is brought to readiness under the lid for 15 minutes. Salt and ground nutmeg (1/4 teaspoon) are added to taste.
2. In a separate pan, a little oil is poured. Garlic (2 cloves), 800 g canned tomatoes, dried basil (1 tbsp.) Are laid out. The sauce is cooked for about 30 minutes.
3. The cooled spinach is mixed with grated Parmesan (100 g), 250 g of ricotta and beaten egg with a fork. The filling is transferred to a pastry bag or a plastic bag with a cut nose.
4. About 14 pieces of cannelloni are filled with the resulting mass from a pastry bag and laid out in a row in a row. Tomato sauce is laid on top of the tubes and 200 ml of water is poured. Then the dish is sprinkled with grated or sliced ​​mozzarella (200 g).
5. After 40 minutes of baking in the oven at 180 °, the cannelloni will be ready.