Here’s a great recipe for cannelloni that is remarkably easy to make. Oven-ready pasta is filled with ricotta and baby spinach and bathed in a tomato eggplant sauce. Add some crusty bread and a salad of roasted peppers or crisp greens for a terrific meal.
Yield : Serves 8
Ingredients
Sauce:
- 1 medium eggplant, peeled, cut into 2-inch (5 cm) cubes
- 2 tbsp (25 ml) olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ¼ tsp (1 ml) freshly ground black pepper
- 3 cups (750 ml) tomato sauce
Filing:
- 2 cups (500 ml) ricotta cheese
- ½ cup (125 ml) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1½ cups (375 ml) chopped baby spinach
- 1 tsp (5 ml) freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 egg, beaten
- ¼ tsp (1 ml) salt
- ¼ tsp (1 ml) freshly ground black pepper
- 24 oven ready cannelloni shells
Directions
1. Sauce: In a nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add eggplant, in batches, and cook until it begins to brown. Add garlic and black pepper and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add tomato sauce, stir well and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Filling: In a bowl, combine ricotta, Parmesan, spinach, nutmeg, egg, salt and pepper. Using your fingers, fill pasta shells with mixture and place filled shells side by side in slow cooker stoneware, then on top of each other when bottom layer is complete. Pour sauce over shells. Cover and cook on Low for 8 hours or on High for 4 hours, until hot and bubbling.
Notes
Be sure to use oven-ready cannelloni or manicotti in this recipe. It is a great time saver and it cooks to perfection in the slow cooker.
Make ahead: This dish can be prepared the night before it is cooked. Let tomato sauce cool before pouring over cannelloni. Refrigerate overnight in slow cooker stoneware and cook as directed.
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