Cannelloni Ripieni
The filling here is almost the same as the ravioli two pages back, and I won't pretend otherwise -- ricotta and spinach are a good combination, and there's no rule against using a good combination twice in the same book, so long as what you do with it afterward is different enough to justify it. This one goes in the oven, under tomato and melted cheese, instead of into a pot of boiling water.
Ingredients
- 12–16 cannelloni tubes (or fresh pasta sheets, rolled)
- 300g ricotta, well drained
- 250g spinach, cooked, squeezed dry, and chopped
- 60g Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated
- 1 egg
- A little grated nutmeg
- 500g crushed tomatoes
- 2 cloves garlic
- Fresh basil
- 150g fresh mozzarella, torn
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Fine sea salt
Serves 6.
Cookware Required
- una teglia da forno (a baking dish)
- una sac a poche o un cucchiaino (a piping bag or a small spoon, for filling the tubes)
Method
Combine the ricotta, spinach, Parmigiano, egg, nutmeg, and a pinch of salt for the filling. In a separate pan, warm a little olive oil, cook the garlic until pale gold, add the crushed tomatoes and a pinch of salt, and simmer for fifteen minutes.
If using dried cannelloni tubes, soak them briefly in hot water until just pliable, so they don't crack while you fill them -- fresh pasta sheets, rolled around the filling instead, avoid this problem entirely and are worth considering if you have the time to make them.
Fill the tubes with the ricotta and spinach mixture, using a piping bag if you have one, or a small spoon and a little patience if you don't. Spread a thin layer of tomato sauce across the bottom of your baking dish, arrange the filled cannelloni in a single layer, and cover them completely with the remaining sauce -- any tube left exposed above the sauce line will dry out and toughen in the oven. Scatter the mozzarella and a little more Parmigiano over the top.
Bake at 190°C (375°F) for about thirty minutes, until bubbling and golden on top. Finish with torn basil.
Quando Va Storto
If the pasta tubes cracked while you were filling them, they were too dry going in -- soak dried tubes longer next time, or switch to rolling fresh sheets instead, which sidesteps the issue completely. If parts of the cannelloni came out tough and dry, they weren't fully submerged in sauce before baking; make sure every tube disappears beneath it. And if the filling leaked out during baking, the tubes were overfilled, or the ends weren't tucked in properly if you rolled your own from sheets.