My friend Jess made me some cannelloni when I was in hospital with Harry. Arriving home with a newborn to a home cooked meal like that was pure heaven. As I reminisced on those times, I came up with a simple child friendly recipe. Harry devoured it for dinner last night and has, equally enthusiastically, had the leftovers for lunch.

I made my own tomato sauce because I am a bit iffy on how much salt is in the prepackaged stuff – but I used fresh cannelloni pasta from the cold section of the supermarket.

Tip: If making for adults too, I omit the grated cheese and add 200g crumbled feta to the ricotta mixture.

Nutrition Note:  This is a great recipe to get kids to eat their spinach.  High in fibre, iron and vitamins spinach is one vegetable well worth eating!

Ingredients

• 1 pkt (250g) fresh cannelloni pasta
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 250g frozen baby spinach, thawed and drained (or use fresh)
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• ½ brown onion, finely diced
• 500g fresh ricotta
• 1 cup tasty cheese, grated
• Salt and pepper to season (optional)
• (Tomato Sauce)
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 medium brown onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 410g can tomatoes
• 1 cup vegetable stock (salt reduced)
• 1 tbs tomato paste (low salt)
• 1 tbs sugar (optional)
• Salt and pepper to season (optional)

Method

Step 1

Preheat oven to 200°C (180°C fan-forced) -

Step 2

(Tomato sauce) Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium. Add the onion and garlic, cook for a few minutes until soft. Add all other ingredients and simmer gently for about 30 minutes or until sauce has reduced  -

Step 3

(Ricotta mix) Heat oil in a fry pan over medium, add onion and garlic and cook until soft. Add spinach and cook for 1 minute (or until wilted if using fresh). Set aside and allow to cool. In a large bowl, combine the ricotta, ½ cup grated cheese, and spinach mixture  -

Step 4

Spread ½ cup of tomato sauce over the base of a shallow (3 litre capacity) ovenproof dish. To assemble the cannelloni, spoon spinach ricotta mix along the base of the short end of fresh pasta. Roll to enclose the filling and place on top of sauce in baking dish, seam side down. Repeat with remaining cannelloni sheets and filling. Pour over remaining tomato sauce, cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes  -

Step 5

Remove foil, sprinkle with tasty cheese and bake for a further 15 minutes or until cheese has melted  -