The Testosterone Blueprint
Back to recipes

Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni with Tomato Sauce

Pasta tubes filled with creamy ricotta, spinach, lemon and nutmeg, baked in a simple garlic and basil tomato sauce until tender and bubbling. A comforting vegetarian dinner with 21g of protein.

Dinner

75

Serves 4 (4 tubes each)

Baked cannelloni filled with spinach and ricotta and covered in a rich tomato sauce, served on a white plate with fresh basil and a small bowl of grated cheese

Ingredients

  • 16 dried cannelloni tubes (about 200g/7oz), the kind that need no pre-cooking
  • 250g/9oz baby spinach (or frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry)
  • 250g/9oz/1 cup ricotta (choose one made without animal rennet if needed)
  • 30g/1oz Italian-style vegetarian hard cheese, finely grated, divided (traditional Parmesan, Parmigiano Reggiano, is made with animal rennet, so it is not vegetarian)
  • Finely grated zest of half a lemon, a good grating of nutmeg, a pinch of salt and black pepper
  • For the sauce
  • 1 tbsp (15ml) olive oil
  • 1 medium onion (about 100g/3½oz), finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic (about 8g), crushed
  • 700g/1lb 9oz/3 cups passata (sieved tomatoes; strained tomatoes in the US)
  • 10g/a handful fresh basil, torn, plus a few leaves to serve

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan, 400F).
  2. Make the sauce: heat the oil in a pan over a medium heat and cook the onion for 8 minutes, until soft. Add the garlic for 1 minute, then the passata, basil, salt and pepper. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add 300ml/1¼ cups water; the dried pasta needs plenty of liquid to cook in the oven.
  3. Meanwhile, put the spinach in a colander and pour over a kettle of boiling water to wilt it (skip this if using frozen). When cool enough to handle, squeeze out as much water as you can and chop finely.
  4. Mix the spinach with the ricotta, half the cheese, the lemon zest, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Spoon the filling into a piping bag or a food bag (zip-top bag) with one corner snipped off, and fill the cannelloni tubes.
  5. Spread a third of the sauce over the base of an ovenproof dish about 20 x 30cm (8 x 12in). Lay the filled tubes on top in a single layer and pour over the rest of the sauce, making sure the pasta is completely covered. Scatter with the remaining cheese.
  6. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 25 minutes, then uncover and bake for 10 to 15 minutes more, until bubbling and a knife slides easily through the pasta. Rest for 5 minutes, scatter with basil and serve 4 tubes each. Leftovers keep in the fridge for up to 2 days; reheat until piping hot.

Why it works

Four tubes give you about 21g of protein for 450 calories. Ricotta, cheese and the pasta provide most of the protein, and a whole 250g of spinach goes into the filling.

No pre-cooking needed. Dried cannelloni tubes cook in the oven as long as they are fully covered in sauce. Adding a little water to the sauce and covering the dish with foil for the first 25 minutes stops the edges drying out.

Squeeze the spinach well. Wet spinach makes a watery filling. Squeezing it hard in your hands removes most of the liquid and keeps the ricotta filling thick and creamy.

Is it vegetarian? Traditional Parmesan (Parmigiano Reggiano) is always made with calf rennet, so it is not vegetarian. Use an Italian-style vegetarian hard cheese, and check that the ricotta is made without animal rennet. More on hard cheeses in Parmesan and hard cheese.

Not tagged for blood sugar, because the pasta brings most of the 53g of carbohydrate. Contains wheat (gluten) and milk; some vegetarian hard cheeses and some cannelloni tubes also contain egg, so check the labels. For other vegetarian dinners, try the kale and walnut pesto pasta or the baked ratatouille with chickpeas.