HONEYCOMB CANNELLONI

By á-27074

Ingredients

• 500 g-600g cannelloni tubes
• for the red sauce
• 2 400g cans chickpeas, drained
• 2 400g cans diced tomatoes
• 1 400g jar pasta sauce
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 2 carrots, finely chopped
• 250 g button mushrooms, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup red wine
• small bunch of fresh rosemary, leaves chopped
• few sprigs of thyme
• handful of oregano leaves, chopped
• handful of basil leaves, torn
• salt to taste
• freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 bay leaf
• for the white sauce
• 500 g spinach
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 300 ml light cream
• 400 ml sour cream
• 1 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan
• grated zest of 1 lemon
• juice of half a lemon
• salt to taste
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon oil
• for the topping
• 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• few sprigs of fresh rosemary

Details

Adapted from cookrepublic.com

Preparation

Step 1

To make the red sauce

Heat oil on medium in a large casserole. Add the bay leaf, garlic and onion. Sauté for a few minutes until onions are tender. Add carrots, mushroom, chickpeas, rosemary, oregano, thyme and basil.

Sauté for 5 minutes, mixing constantly with a wooden spoon. Reduce heat to low.

Add the canned tomatoes, pasta sauce and red wine. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer on low for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure that the sauce doesn’t stick to the bottom.

After 25 minutes, remove from heat and set aside. Pick out the bay leaf. Discard.

To make the white sauce

Wash and pat dry spinach leaves. Chop them finely.

In a large frying pan, heat oil on medium and add spinach. Toss spinach around for a couple of minutes until leaves start wilting and look glazed.

Remove from heat. Season with nutmeg. Place in a large bowl. Add cream, sour cream and parmesan. Add lemon rind, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Mix well. Set aside.


To assemble

Preheat oven to 180C. Take a large 23cm wide and at least 12cm deep ovenproof casserole pan. Grease the insides with a light oil spray or melted butter. Add half the red sauce. Stand cannelloni upright in the sauce, making sure the tubes are next to each other and quite snug. Press down gently to make sure they are touching the base of the pan.

Spoon in half the white spinach sauce over, around and into the tubes. Sprinkle over some parmesan. Spoon over the remaining red sauce around, into and over the tubes. Repeat with the white spinach sauce. With the palm of your hand, gently push the cannelloni tubes further down into the pan. Top with the remaining parmesan and rosemary sprigs.

Cover the pan and rest for at least 30 minutes (this helps to soak up some sauce into the pasta tubes, making them soft).

When ready to bake, place in pre-heated oven for 30 minutes. Bake covered until browned and cooked on top.