Starter Pasta Recipe Mushroom Spinach Ricotta Cannelloni
Beautiful blue skies and warm weather in April was exactly what we needed to start our 2018 B&B (Chambre d’Hôtes) season. The grass became a lawn again, the trees all turned a lovely shade of green and bright patches of colourful flowers began to appear in the garden, all our hard work during the winter months had been worthwhile.
The vegetable garden is now replanted, and the potatoes and tomatoes are already sprouting. The artichokes are in the ground and the haricot beans were planted in May.
Our first guests of the year were a party of eleven meeting up at the Mas d’Augustine for a birthday celebration and, although we had a few April showers, they had a wonderful weekend of sightseeing, wine tasting and dining.
We had our first table d’hotes (for 11) at the end of April and took the opportunity to try out two of the new recipes we had worked on during the winter. One of those recipes is this Mushroom Spinach Ricotta Cannelloni. This pasta dish can be served as a starter or as a main course. We served the pasta as the first course followed by a chicken dish (with a grand entrance), watch this space for that recipe – soon!
Mushroom Spinach Ricotta Cannelloni
Ingredients
- 8 Cannelloni Tubes
- 800 g (3.5 cups) Mixed mushrooms
- 200 g (2/3 cup) spinach
- 200 g (2/3 cup) Ricotta
- 50 ml (4 tbsp) vegetable stock
- 100 g (1/3 cup) Parmesan cheese finely grated
- 150 g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
- 50 ml (4 tbsp) red wine
- nutmeg grated
- 2 Avocadoes
- 2 large ripe tomatoes
Instructions
- Slice the mushrooms very thinly and sauté with a little oil.
- Add the red wine and continue cooking until the wine has evaporated and the mushrooms are soft, then season with salt and pepper and set aside to cool.
- Blanch the spinach in boiling salted water for a few minutes and then cool immediately in iced water before chopping it finely.
- Mix the mushrooms with the chopped spinach, grated parmesan and ricotta.
- Season with salt and pepper and a pinch of nutmeg.
- Put the mixture into a piping bag.
- Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and cook the cannelloni tubes until al dente, then refresh in iced water and drain.
- Coat the pasta tubes lightly in a little oil to prevent them sticking together.
- Using the piping bag fill each tube with the mushroom and spinach mixture and place in a buttered dish, add the stock and cover with foil.
- To make the sauce bring the butter to the boil and cook until it turns a deep golden colour and takes on a nutty smell, then strain and set aside to cool.
- Bake the cannelloni in a pre-heated oven at 180C (350F) for 10 – 12 minutes, then remove the foil and grate over some extra parmesan.
- Return to the oven and place under a hot grill until golden.
- Finely chop the tomatoes and avocado and then season with salt and pepper and a little French dressing.
- Place 2 cannelloni on each plate, grate over a little parmesan, drizzle over the warm butter sauce and dress the plate with the avocado and tomato salad.
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