Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni

Since August, my sister has wanted to become a vegetarian and with it being January and all that "new year new me" stuff my parents finally gave in to her request by offering a compromise. The compromise was that we would eat completely vegetarian meals twice a week, much to my dismay! I was skeptical to begin with because I am true carnivore, veggies just don't fill me up. One advantage of this whole experience is that we get to try different foods every week, which for the most part are actually really good and I don't miss the meat, except for the time we tried black bean burgers. They had a squishy texture and it felt as someone had chewed it for me - you can't take the meat out of burgers, it's a violation of human rights! I then decided I would give a stab at making something vegetarian, hence the spinach and ricotta cannelloni. This recipe came from Jamie Oliver, and feeds 4-6 people.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 400 g spinach

• Extra-virgin olive oil

• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

• 1 onion , diced

• 2 cloves of garlic , squashed

• 2 X 400 g tins of tomatoes

• 1 bay leaf

• 1/2 bunch of basil , leaves picked

• 1/2 lemon , grated zest of

• 250 g ricotta

• 1 free-range egg , beaten

• 2 tsp grated Parmesan

• 150 g cannelloni , about 14 tubes (you could go the extra mile and make fresh pasta)

• 2 x 125 g mozzarella balls , sliced

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C. Place the spinach in a large pan with a drizzle of oil along with the nutmeg and some salt and pepper. Cover the pan with a lid and allow the spinach to cook down on a low heat (it will drastically change volume!) Transfer the spinach to a bowl and set aside to cool.

Use the same pan and add a drizzle of oil. Cook down the onions until softened and then add in the tomatoes, bay leaf, basil leaves and lemon juice. Season to taste and leave it on a gentle simmer for 20 minutes. I really hate the texture of onions ( I don't know why, I just do) and so I would tend to blitz the sauce up so it's smooth.

Next squeeze as much moisture out of the spinach as you can into the bowl and chop the spinach up into smaller pieces. Transfer the spinach back into the bowl and mix in the ricotta cheese, Parmesan and the beaten egg. Make sure to season, it's very bland if you don't! Combine until everything is well incorporated.

Transfer this mixture into a piping bag. Next, pipe the spinach mixture into the cannelloni tubes and place in a 20cm X 25cm oven dish.

Cover the cannelloni with the sauce and place the slices of mozzarella and some basil leaves on the top. Set into the oven and cook for 35-40, or until it is golden brown in colour and the pasta feels soft when you poke a skewer in it.