Seasonal local food recipe No.224 – Cannelloni stuffed with spinach and almonds
This is from Cordon Vert by Colin Spencer and has been a favourite for nearly 30 years! It’s a bit fiddly but well worth the effort. If you can’t get canneloni you could use lasagne sheets or use the filling to make a lasagne.
Serves 4-6
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
12-16 cannelloni tubes
900g leaf spinach
50 g butter
115g ground almonds
2 tbs double cream
salt and freshly ground black pepper
50g grated gruyere cheese
300 ml single cream
50g grated parmesan cheese
Method
Cook the pasta in boiling water until done. Remove from the heat, drain then put the cooked pasta into a bowl of cold water with a little oil in it to keep it separate. Remove the stalks from the spinach and discard. Cook the spinach in half the butter over a low heat. The spinach should shrink to less than half its bulk in about 5-6 minutes. Cool and drain off the excess liquid.
Put the cooked spinach in a bowl and chop with a wooden spoon. Add the almonds, remaining butter, double cream, gruyere cheese, season to taste and mix well.
Drain the canneloni, then taking one tube at a time put a portion of the spinach mixture in it. Place the filled tubes in a shallow, greased ovenproof dish, pour the single cream over, sprinkle with the parmesan cheese and bake in a preheated oven gas mark 2/150°C for about 20 minutes until the canneloni is heated through and the cheese is melted. Serve with a green salad.
