Tuesday 11th Mar '08

I got home from work, took Simba for a walk, had a shower, then got stuck into making dinner. This is my general routine when I'm on the day shifts.

What are we making? CANNELLONI

As usual, I don't follow a recipe when I make my cannelloni. I usually stick to a ricotta and spinach filling, with a tomato based sauce. I try to make the sauce rich since the ricotta and spinach are a bit bland and need the flavour of the sauce to complete the dish.

I tried something a little different with the stuffing mixture. If you have cannelloni at a restaurant, they will serve it to you with a tomato sauce. I like to add vegetables to mine because it makes the meal more wholesome and gives the dish texture. Otherwise it's like eating mush.


Spinach, Pinenut & Ricotta Stuffing

1. Crush some pinenuts in a mortar.
   
2. Lightly fry some chopped spinach (I usually use frozen spinach) with a small amount of olive oil in a pan.
   
3. Combine the pinenuts, spinach and ricotta in a bowl with ground/grated pecorino and parmesan.
   
4. Fill cannelloni tubes and line them in a baking dish.

Tomato & Zucchini Sauce

1. Sautee finely chopped garlic in some olive oil.
   
2. Add fresh diced roma tomatoes, sliced zucchini, onion and a generous amount of tomato paste.
   
3. Add some white wine or olive oil to keep the sauce from burning but do not allow it to become runny.
   
4. Pour sauce over cannelloni and bake in oven at 180C for 30-40 minutes.

You can cook the cannelloni tubes in boiling water for several minutes to soften them up so that they are easier to fill. This will also shorten baking time in the end.

It's a really rich dish with lots of flavour so you can serve it with a side of salad or garlic bread.