This spinach and ricotta filling and accompanying tomato sauce, can be used to make lasagne or cannelloni. Both are equally delicious! If I'm short on time, then I tend to make lasagne as its a lot less fiddly!
The recipe is for quite a large batch of the tomato sauce. If you are making cannelloni, then I spoon a layer of the sauce into the bottom of an oven proof dish, then top with the cannelloni and then a final layer of sauce.
With the lasagne recipe, I don't start with a layer of the sauce, but the leftover sauce is lovely served with the lasagne.
To make the tomato sauce:
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 white onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 x 400g cans of tinned tomatoes
2 tablespoons of sun-dried tomato paste
2 tablespoons of dried oregano
1 bay leaf
Pinch of brown sugar
1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar
Handful of basil leaves
To make the spinach and ricotta filling:
400g cooking spinach
250g ricotta
Nutmeg
1 egg
3 tablespoon of parmesan
Egg lasagne sheets
For the topping:
500g fresh mozzarella
Parmesan
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
For the tomato sauce:
- Finely dice the onion.
- Heat the olive oil in a lidded sauté pan or large saucepan.
- Add the onion and sauté until translucent.
- Add the crushed garlic and stir for a further 1-2 minutes, being careful not to let the garlic burn.
- Pour in the chopped tomatoes and red wine vinegar, then stir in the sun-dried tomato paste, dried oregano, bay leaf and sugar. Season well.
- Bring the tomato sauce to the boil then cover, lower the heat and simmer for 30-35 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and stir in a handful of torn basil leaves.
For the spinach and ricotta filling:
- Put a drizzle of olive oil in a large pan, over a low heat.
- Once the oil is up to temperature, add the spinach and stir until just wilted. It may not all fit in the pan initially, so keep adding spinach to the top and stirring it in, until all of the spinach has wilted.
- Spoon the spinach into a fine sieve over a bowl and leave to cool and drain.
- Once the spinach has cooled, squeeze out any remaining moisture into the bowl.
- Chop the spinach and then place in another bowl, and slowly add back in most of the liquid.
- Grate over the nutmeg and the parmesan and stir in the ricotta and egg. Season well.
For the lasagne:
- Spoon ⅓rd of the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased ovenproof dish.
- Cover with egg lasagne sheets and repeat twice more until all of the mixture has been used.
- Spoon over a good layer of the tomato sauce.
- Slice the mozzarella balls and lay over the top and then grate over a generous helping of parmesan.
- Place in the hot oven and cook for 35 to 40 minutes until the top is golden.
