I fell in love with this dish the minute the waiter put it in front of me. It was fresh out of the oven, sizzling hot with a powerful rich smell that instantly filled the whole room.
But, my first thought when I ordered this was: “What the hell are cannelloni?”. I had no idea at the time. Now, let me tell you what they are, just in case you don’t know. They are a big cylindrical type of pasta. The beauty of these cannelloni is that you can fill them with various fillings, like chicken meat, fish meat, zucchini, cheese, spinach, or whatever your imagination can bring to the table, and then bake them into a stunning dish.
And what a stunning dish we have today. Just look at the list of ingredients that work together to create a feast for the senses. Tomatoes, garlic, sugar, vinegar, spinach, milk and an army of different types of cheese, ricotta cheese, mascarpone cheese and mozzarella cheese.
The only thing I can say about this is that it’s simply delicious!
- Cannelloni Pasta
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1 can of chopped tomatoes
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
- 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar
- 250g of ricotta cheese
- 250g of spinach
- 200g of mascarpone cheese
- 2 tablespoons of milk
- 200g of mozzarella cheese
- salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- Heat up the olive oil in a non-stick pan and fry the garlic for about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, the sugar and the vinegar, season with salt and pepper and leave the mix on the fire for 20 minutes until the sauce thickens.
- In the meantime put the spinach in a large strainer and pour boiling water on it until it softens. Let it cool down for a few minutes, then squeeze the excess water out of it and finely chop it. Mix the spinach with the ricotta cheese in a bowl and season well with salt and pepper.
- Heat your oven at 200ºC / 428ºF. Using a piping bag, or a regular sandwich bag with one corner cut off start filling the cannelloni with the spinach and ricotta mix.
- When the tomato sauce is ready, pour it in a ovenproof dish and lay the cannelloni on top.
- In a clean bowl mix the mascarpone cheese with the milk until you get a light fluffy sauce. Pour this sauce on top of the cannelloni.
- Top everything off with slices of mozzarella cheese and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes until you get a golden crust.
Amazing photos especially given how difficult it is to photograph dishes like this one!
Thank you very much Marina! I’m really glad you like them.