Easy Peasy Vegan Ricotta Cannelloni
OK, so since I posted this photo of our impromptu Sunday lunch last week, I had so many DMs asking for the recipe! Stuffed cannelloni are the craze at the min, I see them everywhere, and they’ve been stuck in my mind for so long that last weekend when I was suddenly STARVING (as you often are when 5 months pregnant) all I could think of was these stuffed cannelloni, so I just made this up on the go not really sure it would work out and oh boy did it turn out good!
It’s definitely not as fancy as a lot I’ve seen out there, this is a super simple recipe, but it hit the spot and the fact that it was so easy to put together made it even better! I’ve used this cashew ricotta for many things before, it’s basically just a thicker version of my cashew sauce that I use for pasta and in lasagna etc. but let’s get down to details…
Ingredients :
Cashew Ricotta- 2 cups raw cashews, soaked- 1/3 cup of water- Juice of 1 large lemon- 1 small garlic clove- 1 big pinch of sea salt- Optional : 1/2 of onion powder AND/OR 1-2 tbsp of Nutritional yeastAND/OR 1/2 smoked paprika
Tomato Sauce - 2 cans of chopped tomatoes (400g cans)- 1 onion chopped- 1 tbsp of olive oil- 2 cloves of garlic crushed- 1 tsp of oregano or herbes de Provence mix- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika- 1 tbsp of tomato puree (optional)- 1 tsp of marmite (optional)
- Cannelloni (OR big pasta shells that you can stuff)- 200 g of thawed frozen spinach (I just placed mine in warm water to go fast and drained it well, getting as much water out as I could)
Method :
Cashew Ricotta- Soak your cashews for 15 to 30 min in boiling water- Rinse and drain your soaked cashews.- Place all ingredients in your high-speed blender: soaked cashews, water, lemon juice, salt, garlic and spices if using.- Blend on high using the tamper or scraping the sides until you reach a smooth creamy consistency.- Place aside in a mixing bowl- Mix in your thawed drained spinach until combined.
Tomato Sauce- Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and sauté your chopped onion until translucent and fragrant- Add in your crushed garlic and tomato purée and cook for a few min until fragrant and combined.- Add in your x2 cans of chopped tomatoes and the oregano/herbs and your smoked paprika (if adding marmite add at this stage)- Season with salt and pepper- Let it simmer for 10-20min (if it starts getting too thick, add a little veggie stock or just water to loosen it up!)
Cannelloni- Depending on the brand you are using (I used Garafalo), partly cook your pasta for 3min in salted boiling water, then drain and rinse under cold water, to cool enough to handle.- In a square or rectangle oven dish that can fit all your pasta, layer half of your tomato sauce at the bottom- Then one by one stuff your cannelloni with the ricotta & spinach mixture, use a piping bag if you have one, if not, use a thin spoon to gently fill them (which is what we did, definitely took a bit longer but with two of us it went fast!) and place them side by side on top of the tomato sauce.- Once you’re done and all your ricotta filled cannelloni are lined up in the oven dish, cover them up with the remaining tomato sauce, make sure they’re fully covered.- Cook in a preheated oven at 180C on fan for 20min (until the pasta is cooked through and the edges are going crispy and golden!)- Optional, grated some vegan parmesan on top and if you had any sprinkle fresh basil before serving up!- Bon appétit!
ps : this could also be made even naughtier by replacing the tomato sauce by a vegan bolognese, and covering up the last layer in bechamel… but you didn’t hear that from me ;) (I would use the recipe from my lasagna to do that!)
