“Green tunnels” one of my sons likes to call them and both him and his brother suddenly declared spinach as their favourite food. What a brilliant invention cannelloni is, I feel like I’ll be experimenting with lots of other options! A perfect family lunch or dinner and hopefully there will be many more spinach enthusiasts going popeye crazy.
What you need:
20 cannelloni (approx. 200g)
For the spinach – ricotta filling:
120g cashews – soaked in boiled water for 15mins
2tbsp olive oil
1 small shallot – finely chopped
2 garlic cloves – finely chopped
500g baby spinach – washed
1 tin butterbeans – rinsed (about 240g)
1tbsp nutritional yeast
1tbsp lemon juice
A quarter of a teaspoon of nutmeg
Salt to taste
For the tomato sauce:
800g tomato passata (unseasoned)
2tbsp tomato puree
1tbsp olive oil
1tsp balsamic vinegar
1tsp date sugar or date syrup
1tsp dried oregano
Half a teaspoon of garlic granules
Salt to taste
How you do it:
Preheat your oven at gas mark 6 (200C).
Pour some boiling water over your cashews and leave to soak for approx. 15mins.
In a frying pan heat up the olive oil and fry the shallot for a few minutes until translucent.
Add spinach and garlic and wait until the spinach has wilted, stirring occasionally.
Turn off the heat and drain any excess water without squeezing the spinach.
Drain the cashews and transfer them to a food processor.
Add spinach, butterbeans, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, nutmeg and salt to the food processor.
Blend until you get a smooth paste.
Fill your spinach-ricotta paste into the cannelloni using a piping bag if you have one, alternatively a table knife works pretty well too.
Arrange one layer of the filled cannelloni in a large oven dish.
For the tomato sauce simply mix all the ingredients in a bowl and evenly pour it over the cannelloni.
Cover the dish with tinfoil and bake for 40-45mins, removing the foil after 20mins.
