Spinach cannelloni

The flavour combination of spinach, leeks, garlic, dill, creamy ricotta and just enough salty feta is a personal favourite.

Serves 4 Preparation: 30 minutes Cooking time: 45 minutes Oven temperature: 180°C

• 400g spinach, well rinsed

• 30ml butter

• 15ml olive oil

• 2 leeks, white stems chopped

• 2 garlic cloves, chopped

• 80ml coarsely chopped Italian parsley

• 30ml chopped dill

• 150g ricotta

• 150g feta (preferably creamy Greek feta)

• 3ml freshly grated nutmeg

• 1 bottle (690g) tomato passata

• 30ml quality olive oil

• 5ml dried Italian herbs

• 5ml sugar

• 16 cannelloni tubes

• 500ml grated mozzarella

• 125ml Parmesan

1 Cut out the veins from the spinach and chop them finely; their texture is almost the same as celery and they add body to the filling. Melt the butter and oil and fry the chopped veins, leeks and garlic together until soft. Stir the spinach into the pan and stir-fry until the leaves have wilted and there’s no liquid left in the pan. Stir in the parsley and dill; remove from the heat. Process the spinach mixture with a stick blender, along with the ricotta and feta. Season to taste with salt, pepper and nutmeg. The filling should be thick and creamy; if it’s too runny, add extra ricotta.

2 Preheat the oven. Heat the tomato passata and season with the olive oil, herbs and sugar. You can also add salt and pepper to taste. Spread half of the sauce in a greased ovenproof dish.

3 Fill the cannelloni tubes with the spinach mixture and arrange them side by side on top of the tomato sauce (to make it easier to fill the tubes, use a piping bag). Pour over the rest of the tomato sauce, followed by the mozzarella and Parmesan. Bake for about 20–25 minutes or until bubbling and golden-brown. >>

If you can’t find ready-made cannelloni tubes, you can also roll up the filling in pancakes before baking them under a blanket of tomato and cheese–ormakeyourown pasta sheets.