It's funny how we spend time with people and still don't know hundreds of things about them. Or we think we know something, but we don't (This is not a philosophical post, I promise).
I was going through a couple of books trying to choose something for lunch and suddenly João looked at a photo and said "why don't you cook this?" - I looked at him and replied "but you don't like cannelloni. And you don't like ricotta either". "Of course I like cannelloni. And I would definitely try your ricotta cannelloni - but don't add spinach, please"
After my jaw was back where it belongs, João was off to the grocery store to buy the ingredients and I was glad to know he's more open to trying new food. :)
I'm submitting this post for the Weekend Herb Blogging, this time hosted by Scott, from Real Epicurean.
I adapted a recipe from this book
Herb ricotta cannelloni
adapted from Modern Classics Book 1
500ml readymade tomato sauce
4 fresh lasagna sheets, halved lengthwise
½ cup finely grated parmesan cheese, extra
Filling:
750g (1 ½ pounds) fresh ricotta
2 tablespoons virgin olive oil*
4 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
4 tablespoons chopped basil
4 tablespoons chopped chives
1 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
½ cup fresh breadcrumbs – I made my own with some stale Italian bread
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF.
To make the filling, combine the ricotta, olive oil, parsley, basil, chives, parmesan, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper.
Spread 1/3 of the tomato sauce over the base of a greased 20x30cm (8x12in) ovenproof dish.
Lay a lasagna sheet on a flat surface, spoon on some ricotta filling and roll up. Place in the baking dish, seam-side down. Repeat with the remaining filling and sheets.
Pour the remaining tomato sauce over the cannelloni, sprinkle with the extra parmesan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until heated through.
* I added the olive oil because the ricotta I used was too crumbly – it helped create a creamier filling
Serves 4
55 comments:
I'll take mine with spinach! This cannelloni looks amazing. Sounds like a wonderful dinner!
I think it looks divine! So how did João like it?
Although I do like spinach, replacing it with the herbs sounds like a lovely version of cannelloni! I know exactly what you mean...I thought I would fall of my chair the first time my husband ate a non-tomato based pasta that I cooked and liked it :)
Oh Patricia, that looks heavenly! :)
Don't laugh, but sometimes I confuse my husband with the kids, or the cat -- who eats what, who doesn't eat what! This does look delicious; I'd eat it in a minute!
It's obvious Jo�o knows a good thing when he sees it!
There's just something that's so satisfying about eating cannelloni; looking at your picture and reading your words makes me hungry.
Mmmmm...that's just the sort of meal I love to eat. Feels like home...
I'd use the spinach, too, but the herbs I bet tasted (and smelled) absolutely fabulous! I know another man who might be interested in this dish ...
I don't even have to look at your photos or read the recipe to start salivating over your blog. Usually I just read the header and I am going "Oh, yeah."
This cannelloni recipe is a perfect example.
wow, that sounds like a lot of fresh herbs! I am sure it smells heavenly in the kitchen.
Patricia, I far prefer the sound of this with the fresh herbs - though I don't mind spinach either. But you just took it to the next level. Makes me hungry just to look at it! Great idea.
You've made canneloni look good! I usually don't like things like this...stuffed shells, manicotti, I usually find it mediocre but this looks REALLY good! Thanks!
That looks just perfect! How did Joao like it?
Do you know I am going to have a go at this one. Next time my son comes home I will make this for him.
I won't mind having one of your cannelloni and I like spinach so that's okay :)
It looks fabulous and I'm sure it would be delicious with or without spinach.
Looks good. I have never made cannelloni. I think I am going to have to add this to my to try list. I think that the spinach would go really well in this dish.
Patricia, what a great idea to use the herbs. We have basil, oregano and parsley growing in our yard than now know their purpose in life...being in your cannelloni recipe. I like spinach, but your idea is WAY more interesting than soggy spinach. All of the cannelloni in the dish, is a definite Tastespotting worthy submission. I've never heard of using lasagne noodles like that before, but now I must try it. Thanks for the post!
What a beautiful dish! I owula take my with spinach though... Oh, and who doesn't love ricotta? :D
This looks delicious. Who wouldn't love it? Congratulations on finding a new dish to serve!
That looks so good! I never would have thought of using herbs ~ what a cool idea.
But it simply must have spinach.
Thanks for the cannelloni craving Patricia, you know what will be popping up around my place soon.
Yum! Excellent idea replacing the spinach with all those herbs. They look really pretty all laying in your baking dish. I made cannelloni once (or perhaps it was some other pasta shape since my tubes were a lot smaller than yours) and found it a bit frustrating to try and filling the tubes of pasta without them splitting down the side! They were tasty though.
Oh--that looks like heaven. I haven't made this for years! And I love it so. I can practically smell it as I look at the picture. I prefer this type fof filling to a meat version.
I just love cannelloni with ricotta and spinach... I have never tried your version... interesting.
Ciao.
Oh lovely!!! this will be on my must try recipe this week!!! Thanks!!!
These look seriously good.
Deb, I want to try it with spinach, too, I'm sure it would be fantastic.
Janet, he loved it!
Joey, husbands will be husbands, right? :)
Manggy, tks!
Lydia, I won't laugh - that's a lot of info to remember everyday!
Julie, thank you, sweetie - I was glad he liked it. :)
Karen, very comforting!
Abby, fresh herbs make anything better! I'm glad to hear that, my friend.
Aimée, thank you for your kind words, dear! I'm glad you feel this way.
Mandy, I love cooking with herbs. I usually add parsley to basicaly everything. :)
Amanda, thank you! I looked at the herbs I grow in my apartment's balcony and the idea came up.
Hillary, thank you! That's quite a compliment.
Kelly-Jane, he loved it, to my surprise. :)
Margaret, I'd love to hear your opinion on it.
Cynthia, have some, sweetie. :)
Amy, true!
Kevin, I hope you like this as much as we did at home.
Bri, I have parsley, basil and chives growing in my apartment's balcony, so that's how the idea came up. I'm glad you like my recipe, sweetie!
Anh, I do, I do! :)
Lynn, it's quite a tough mission sometimes. ;)
Lori, thank you!
Dayna, I agree with you, too bad my husband is too picky. :(
Ashley, I added the olive oil in order to make the filling more compact - it was a lot easier to use it this way.
Sher, when I think of great pasta dishes I think of you, dear.
Orchidea, I love it too!
Pat, let me know if you try it!
KJ, thank you!
Hi Patricia,
This looks delicious! Glad to hear that João liked it. What does he have against spinach? ;-) Chives, parsley and basil sounds like a good substitute.
I would have been skeptical about dropping the spinach, but your substitutions look fabulous! This combination looks like it would create a more subtle blend of flavors than if you had used the spinach.
This must have been a wonderfully aromatic change from the classic spinach. Any leftovers, Patricia?
They look absolutely delicious, Patricia...and I love that João decided that he wanted you to make them, and then even went to the grocery store to pick up all the ingredients...excellent! Grocery shopping is the only negative part about the whole cooking process, well maybe that and the cleaning up part, so its nice that he pitched in with the groundwork! :-)
This recipe looks delicious. I am going to try it out next week. thanks for sharing.
This is a good idea, instead of lagsana all the time, I can make canneloni now, nice picture , make me hungry :)
What a fabulous dish Patricia! I could see myself devouring platefuls of this with ease.
I would have put in spinach as I love it. For a second there, when I saw the first photo, I thought you ignored his request and added spinach anyway ;-) then I saw that it was the herbs! That looks really lovely!
its sound good, iam going to try this next time, thanks :)
This dish is a winner! I could make this for my kids who won't try spinach, but will eat herbs.
Oh, those look so delicious! Do you know, I have never made cannelloni. But this has got me wanting to try it.
I love it. I'm in this kind of mood lately and might try this one out myself!
Nora, my dear, he liked it a lot and told me I can repeat this recipe anytime I want.
I don't know why he doesn't like spinach - there are a lot of things he didn't like as a single guy and started liking after we gor married. Fish is one of them. I have hope. ;)
Toni, I'm so glad you liked it, sweetie!
Susan, nothing left, my dear friend. Only dishes to clean. :)
Belinda, thank you! You are right - sometimes the places are so crowded I just want to pick the very necessary items and go home in a second.
He always helps me with stuff, I feel very blessed.
Syrie, let me know how you like it, please? I'd love to get your opinion about it.
Everything 4 Sweets, it's a great way of using the pasta sheets!
Truffle, we ate a lot here, too. :S
Wok and Spoon, I love it too and hope I can make it with it in the future. There was a lot of green there, right? :)
Lia, let me know if you try it? Please? I'd love to.
Nicisme, your kids are just like João. :)
Lisa, you should try it! I know you are gonna love it.
Scott, I'm so glad to hear that from you! Thank you!
So Yummy to look at it!!! I'll have to give them a try!!!
I'll take spinach in mine too! I'm a sucker for pasta and I've never made this. I think it's about time I did...
I'd have been sinful and tucked in a few leaves of spinach! It is always a joy when they try new foods!
Beautiful!
Oh this looks fantastic!
Oh, that's exactly what I call a hearty meal!!
I think it looks just wonderful. I love your idea of replacing the spinach with some fresh herbs too! Wonderful recipe.
Your Cannelloni look so delicious! Unfortunately Y. eats no cheese, and I can't convince him to do... :-(
Oh wow - that looks just marvellous! I love canneloni and I love the idea of replacing spinach with herbs - sometimes the spinach and ricotta combo can be a bit bland for me.
im sold! you had me from hello! this dish will be made in my kitchen before the week is out!
Ricotta is my favorite white cheese. I used to add it only for making mouses or cheese cakes. Recently learned to make pancakes with ricotta and today, Thanks a lot for sharing then idea, I've learned to make Cannelloni with ricotta.
Hallo from Germany. This recipe sounded so delicious to me, that I made it to my 25th birthday last week. I just used oregano instead of the chives. And it turned out really yammi. I loved it. Looks like I'm having a new favourite recipe.
Best regards, Azrael (Nadine)!
I'm a bit late here but I made this recipe about a week ago with a few tiny adjustments (didn't include breadcrumbs; no fresh herbs on hand, subbed dry) and my supremely picky SO absolutely loved this dish! He doesn't even like italian food most of the time.
Nadine, thank you so much for your feedback! I'm really glad to know you liked the recipe!
xx
Heather, that is such great news - I'm so glad you liked the recipe! Thank YOU for letting me know how it turned out!
xx
looks great :) YummY!!!!! Hi from Poland :)
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