I believe every family has dishes that evoke memories, or particular people; in my case it’s cannelloni, both savory and sweet.
Why do I say that? Ever since I was a child, every year at Christmas I was asked what my favorite menu was and my answer was always the same: as a first course ricotta and spinach cannelloni with lots of sauce and lots of béchamel and then immediately Sicilian cannoli!!!!!!
So my two grandmothers went into action: Grandma Lisetta, a true Genoese, prepared her legendary baked cannelloni, while Grandma Caita (her real name was Margherita) brought me her famous Sicilian cannoli!!
Enough memories—today I intend to prepare with you the ricotta and spinach cannelloni which, as you’ve guessed, I adore and often make for my family because my son loves them too… good blood doesn’t lie!
And as he says, they are even a bit healthy because they contain lots of spinach!!!! One of the traditional recipes of Italian cuisine to bring to the table for Sunday lunch but not only, easy to make and delicious.
A tasty first course that pleases everyone from adults to children—in short, a winning dish for the whole family.
The recipe today is the traditional “lean cannelloni”; here they are accompanied by a simple tomato sauce and a delicate béchamel, but the dish is extremely versatile. You can introduce any variation both in the filling (chard, mixed greens, leeks, pumpkin) and in the sauce, for example using a meat ragù. So what are you waiting for? Read the recipe and prepare Grandma Lisetta’s ricotta and spinach cannelloni with me.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Budget-friendly
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Cooking time: 35 Minutes
- Portions: 4 SERVINGS
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 4 1/4 cups Milk
- 3/4 cup All-purpose flour (00 flour)
- 7 tbsp Butter
- 1 pinch Salt
- to taste Nutmeg
- 1 pinch Ground black pepper (ground)
- 16 Cannelloni
- 2 cups Tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup Grated Parmesan
- 1.1 lb Fresh spinach
- 1 1/4 cups Ricotta cheese
- 1 Egg
- 1 cup Grated Parmigiano Reggiano
- 2 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
- to taste Salt
- to taste Pepper
Preparation
First, clean the spinach by washing them well in cold water to remove any soil. Drain them and pat them dry with a cloth to remove excess water. Heat a nonstick skillet with 2 tablespoons of oil, add the spinach, cover and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes until they have wilted. Season with salt. Once cooked, let them cool slightly and if necessary squeeze out some of the cooking water. When cooled, roughly chop them with a knife or mezzaluna. Put them in a large bowl, add the ricotta, one egg, a teaspoon of salt, a pinch of pepper and the grated cheese. Mix well so that all the ingredients are combined. Now your cannelloni filling is ready.
Meanwhile prepare the béchamel. In a small saucepan pour the butter and let it melt; once completely melted add the sifted flour and start stirring regularly so the mixture combines well. After 2-3 minutes you will see it become a “cream” called a brown roux. At this point remove the saucepan from the heat and add the milk – which you will have heated separately – a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper (optional) and nutmeg. Continue stirring, return to the heat and cook over moderate heat for another 5 minutes until you obtain a consistency similar to pastry cream. Turn off the heat and set aside.
I used ready-to-use cannelloni pasta that does not need to be pre-cooked and can be filled and put in the oven raw.
Take a baking dish, pour a few tablespoons of tomato sauce into it (I simply cooked passata with oil, a few basil leaves, 1 clove of garlic and salt), then start filling your cannelloni with the filling using a teaspoon or a piping bag. Once filled, place them one by one in the baking dish. When the dish is full, cover them with béchamel and pour the remaining tomato sauce over. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan and bake for about 35 minutes at 356°F (conventional oven). Finish cooking with 2-3 minutes under the broiler so the surface becomes nicely golden. Serve hot.
Notes
The secret to a perfect result, as always, is the ingredients. What makes the difference is using fresh spinach rather than frozen, a good fresh ricotta (whether cow, sheep, mixed or buffalo doesn’t matter much), and preparing the béchamel at home instead of using the ready-made kind in a carton. If you have followed these three tips, you have already done 80% of the work for a successful recipe. Regarding the pasta, honestly I have also made them with homemade fresh pasta and in my opinion the result is excellent even using ready dried pasta. So if you don’t have time or don’t feel like it, don’t feel guilty about using dried pasta.
Finally, for the tomato sauce, keep it a bit thinner than usual, meaning don’t let it thicken too much since in the oven it has to rehydrate the dried pasta. If you prefer a richer recipe you can substitute the tomato sauce with homemade ragù; in that case your cannelloni will easily become a complete main course!
