Spinach and ricotta cannelloni

Instead of giving a bunch of flowers or chocolates I tend to cook someone a meal as a thank you for anything they may have done for me. So this meal was thought up as a thank you to someone who had put up with me staying at their house and consuming a lot of their food! Therefore I made their favourite Italian meal that's it you guessed it cannelloni, I decided on the veggie option which is unlike me but it was their preference and a new endeavor for me as I've only ever made lasagne, carbonara and the classic spaghetti bolognese. I accompanied the meal with an Italian wine as when one is in Rome! so the tipple of choice was Inycon Sicilia Limited Edition Grillo grown in the vineyards of Sicily originally £9.99 but was on offer £4.99 BARGAIN! All ingredients and wine were purchased from Tesco and the total for a meal for three including wine was £13.98.

The ingredients to serve 3 are as follows:

For Bechamel sauce

75g butter

half a garlic clove, halved

2 tbsp of plain flour

300ml milk
a pinch of mixed spice
1/2 tbsp of grated parmesan

For the Napoli sauce
olive oil
1/4 of a carrot grated
a couple of stems of fresh flat leaf parsley
1/4 of a celery stick, chopped finely
250g/half a tin of chopped tomatoes
a handful of basil leaves
1 clove of garlic crushed

For the cannelloni and filling
250g of cooked spinach
150g ricotta
1/2 an egg beaten
1 tbsp of grated parmesan
10 cannelloni tubes

The recipe is fairly straight forward if you are familiar with making a bechamel sauce. Firstly preheat the oven to 190c . Heat the butter on a low heat then add the garlic.

 Add the flour to create a roux then slowly add the milk, stirring consistently to make sure there are no lumps lovely lady bumps (sorry had to do it). Once the sauce has thickened you want the consistency of custard, add the spice and parmesan and season to taste. Remove garlic if you wish, I'm a garlic whore so i'm fine with it in there.

 To make the napoli sauce, heat the olive oil in a saucepan, once hot add garlic being careful not to burn on too high a heat. Then add the celery, carrot and parsley and fry gently until a golden ish colour. Then add the tomatoes, stir in the basil and half a cup of water. Then simmer for 20 mins.

For the cannelloni filling, if using fresh spinach cook on a medium heat in a saucepan with a sprinkle of water untill it wilts and halves in size. Then mix together ricotta, egg and parmesan and season.

 Spoon the mixture into the cannelloni either using a piping bag if available, if not get messy and use a teaspoon as I did and push it down with the end of the spoon.

Place in a buttered dish either pyrex or baking. Spoon over the bechamel sauce, then the napoli. Cook for thirty minutes then remove and cover with parmesan shavings and cook for a further ten. Et voila!

I served mine with some tasty foccacia and a side salad with a lurvely glass of wine. Enjoy.