This spinach, tomato and goats cheese cannelloni is one of those delicious baked pasta dishes you will want to make time and time again. It’s cheesy, creamy and perfectly balanced with that tart tomato sauce.
I love cannelloni – there’s something very special about the individual tubes of pasta crammed full a lovely filling which is always different to the covering sauce; each one is like a little present.
This particular pasta recipe uses fresh lasagne sheets for the cannelloni rather than ready made, dried tubes. This makes the whole process MUCH easier than using dried cannelloni tubes, which can be fiddly and leave you with too little filling. This way, you can stuff each cannelloni generously and end up with the perfect amount of filling vs pasta!
Ingredients, Substitutions and Variations
- The filling – the filling for the pasta is made from ricotta, goats cheese, spinach, garlic and Parmesan. You need the ricotta to bulk out the filling and to add its mellow mildness to the goats cheese. Goats cheese is such a strong flavour that a little goes a long way.
- The pasta – as mentioned above, we use fresh lasagne sheets here. You could use cannelloni tubes instead, but I advise you try this method.
- The sauce – the sauce is simply made from passata, cherry tomatoes and basil. We don’t even need to precook it – winner!
Top Tips
- You can roll up the cannelloni in advance (up to 24 hours ahead) and store in the dish you will cook them in, in the fridge. Cover with the sauce just before cooking.
- It is easier to roll the lasagne sheets if they aren’t fridge cold. Let them get to room temperature first if you can to avoid them cracking.
- You can add other vegetables to the sauce if you would like to add some variety. Courgette, olives or more spinach would work.
Spinach, Tomato and Goats Cheese Cannelloni
Ingredients
- 125 g crumbly goats cheese
- 500 g ricotta
- 80 g parmesan
- 200 g spinach
- 1 clove garlic
- 350 g cherry tomatoes
- 500 g passata
- 10 g basil leaves
- 12 fresh lasagne sheets
Instructions
- Wilt the spinach in a dry frying pan over a low heat. Squeeze any excess water out then chop into small pieces.
- Put the ricotta, goats cheese, 30g of the parmesan, spinach and chopped garlic into a bowl and mix until well combined.
- Get a large oven proof dish. Line up your lasagne sheets – see whether they’ll fit in the dish lengthways or widthways. Put a spoonful of the goats cheese and spinach mixture along whichever side fits best, and spread it out along that side. It’s best to use your hands here! Roll the lasagne sheet into a tube shape around the mixture and place in the dish.
- Repeat until all of the mixture is used and the dish is full.
- Cut the tomatoes in half and scatter them on top of the cannelloni. Tear the basil leaves and sprinkle over the top, then pour the passata over evenly, ensuring all of the cannelloni are covered with sauce. Season with salt and pepper, then top with the remaining Parmesan.
- Pop in the oven at 180 degrees for about 20 minutes, until the pasta is cooked through. Enjoy!
Video
Nutrition
More delicious baked pasta recipes:
- Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni
- Mozzarella, Tomato and Basil Pasta Bake
- Bolognese Pasta Bake
- Asparagus, Pea and Pesto Lasagne
- Butternut Squash and Sage Lasagne
- Vegetable and Tortelloni Bake
Comfort food of your dreams! Cheesy and delicious
I need to to thank you for this very good read!! I
definitely enjoyed every bit of it. I’ve got you book-marked too look at new stuff you post…