Ricotta and Silverbeet Cannelloni Ripieni

Name: Ricotta and Silverbeet Cannelloni Ripieni
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 250g dried cannelloni shells; 1 tbsp olive oil; 2 cloves garlic, smashed; 700ml passata; 1 sprig basil; 150g mozzarella, thinly sliced; 1 small bunch silverbeet (approx 500g) or baby spinach; 1 tbsp olive oil; 300g fresh ricotta; 50g parmesan cheese, finely grated; fresh nutmeg; sea salt and black pepper

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Ricotta and Silverbeet Cannelloni Ripieni

Ingredient Notes

Silverbeet:

Silverbeet is the Australian name for chard. The variety I used has broad, dark green leaves attached to a thick white stem, and I use both parts because they each bring something different. The stems are denser and need 4 minutes to soften before the leaves go in. The leaves wilt in under 3 minutes. If you can’t find silverbeet, baby spinach works as a direct substitute. Just add the leaves whole to the oil, cook until just wilted (about 1 minute), then set aside to cool. Spinach releases more water than silverbeet, so if there’s visible pooling in the pan, drain it off before spreading out to cool.

Fresh ricotta:

Use full-fat fresh ricotta for this. Not the smooth, blended tub variety, you want fresh ricotta with a slight grain and some texture, which holds its structure when baked and doesn’t turn into a solid, dense mass. Fresh ricotta is available from good delis and the deli counter at larger supermarkets. If yours looks wet or watery, tip it into a fine sieve lined with a paper towel and let it drain for 20 to 30 minutes before using. Excess moisture in the filling will make the pasta soft and soggy after baking.

Fresh nutmeg:

Freshly grated nutmeg has a warm, slightly sweet and almost piney aroma that pre-ground nutmeg loses quickly after milling. In a ricotta filling, it does important seasoning work, cutting through the richness of the dairy and lifting the greens. Use a Microplane or the fine side of a box grater and grate directly over the pan. A quarter of a whole nutmeg is roughly what you’re after. If you only have ground nutmeg, start with a small pinch and taste as you go.

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Ingredients

250g dried cannelloni shells
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, smashed
700ml passata
1 sprig basil
150g mozzarella, thinly sliced

RICOTTA FILLING

1 small bunch silverbeet (approx 500g) or baby spinach
1 tbsp olive oil
300g fresh ricotta
50g parmesan cheese, finely grated
fresh nutmeg
sea salt and black pepper

Equipment

Chopping board
Chef’s knife
2 large saucepans
Large mixing bowl
Microplane or fine grater
Piping bag
24cm square baking dish
Aluminium foil

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Directions

PREP THE FILLING

Trim the greens from the white stems of the silverbeet. Finely dice the stems and roughly chop the leaves.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan on medium heat. Add the silverbeet stems and cook for 4 minutes, until softened. Stir in the leaves, some freshly grated nutmeg (¼), a pinch of salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Continue cooking until just wilted (max 3 minutes). Remove from the heat, spread out on a tray and allow to cool (can place in the fridge to cool down faster).
In a bowl, break up the ricotta and then add parmesan, small pinch of salt and a little more grated nutmeg.
Mix in the silverbeet, then check your seasoning.

COOK THE SAUCE

Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic cloves and allow to infuse the oil for 2 minutes.
Pour in the passatta, then add a little water to the jar to mix with the remaining sauce and pour in too. Stir to combine, season with salt and add the basil. Bring to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.

FILL THE CANNELLONI

Transfer ricotta filling to a piping bag and snip the end large enough to fit inside the cannelloni shells. Pipe the filling into the shells from end to end. Use both ends to fill the cannelloni by aiming for the centre and piping outwards on both sides.
Spoon some of the tomato sauce into the base of a 24cm square baking dish (2.6qt capacity) and spread to just cover the base. Leave the whole garlic behind, you don’t need it anymore.
Place in the cannelloni shells, fitting snugly side by side in a single layer. Pour over the remaining sauce.
Top with the mozzarella slices then loosely cover the dish with foil.

BAKE AND SERVE

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan forced (355°F). Bake the cannelloni for 25 minutes, then uncover and bake a further 10-15 minutes, until the cheese is golden.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then serve cannelloni garnished with some extra basil, or a side salad if you like.

Notes

Chef Tips

Prep the sauce and filling at the same time

Both the sauce and the filling take about 20 minutes of active cooking, and neither needs much attention once it’s going. Start the oil for the sauce while you’re prepping the silverbeet, so by the time the filling is cooked, cooled, and ready to pipe, the sauce has had its 15 minutes on the stove. The filling does need to cool before it goes into the piping bag, so if you’re short on time, spread it out on a tray and put it in the fridge for 10 minutes to speed that up.

Spray the foil before it goes on

Before you cover the baking dish with foil, spray a little olive oil on the underside of the foil. By the time the covered phase of baking is done (25 minutes in), the mozzarella has started melting and will have bonded to uncoated foil. When you try to remove it, the cheese tears and you lose the top of the dish. A quick spray takes seconds and solves the problem entirely. Make the foil loose rather than tight over the dish so there’s a little air gap, that steam is what cooks the pasta through.

Storage

The cooked cannelloni keeps in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days. To reheat, put it back in the oven at 180°C for 10 to 12 minutes rather than the microwave, which softens the pasta unevenly. If using the microwave, add a splash of water and cover to retain steam. You can also freeze it, portioned, for up to 3 months. Let it cool completely first, then freeze in airtight containers. Defrost overnight in the fridge before reheating. The tomato sauce keeps the pasta hydrated during freezing, so the texture holds up better than most baked pasta dishes.

Serving ideas

Add a green salad or some steamed greens to round out this meal.