Pasta La Vista, Baby!

We had this cannelloni for dinner ages ago but I just haven't got around to blogging it until now. This is one of the easiest cannelloni recipes I've come across and, apart from the brand of pasta sheets I used, it was fabulous. I will definitely be making this one again, just with a better brand of pasta sheets than the ones that were suggested. They were 'half-size' sheets, so if you bought, what I consider to be regular sized, large pasta sheets you'd need to cut them in half before you started. Yes, your fingers get goopy while your mixing and rolling but I think that was part of the fun.

The recipe is from the free magazine that is put out quarterly by the supermarket I generally shop at so lots of brands are specified in the list of ingredients. In the interests of not joining in with their advertising I'm not planning to list the brands. That's me being subversive!

Pumpkin, Ricotta and Spinach Pasta Bake

from Coles Magazine, Spring Issue (2009)

1kg butternut pumpkin, chopped and peeled

250g ricotta cheese (tubs tend to be smoother than fresh ricotta and give a better consistency in this recipe, fresh ricotta may also be too dry)

2 cloves garlic, crushes

1 bunch chives, snipped

400g packet fresh lasagna sheets

100g baby spinach leaves

1 cup cream

1 cup chicken stock

2 cups mozzarella cheese

Salad leaves, to serve

1. Place pumpkin in a medium bowl and microwave until tender Cool

2. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a large baking dish.

3. Add ricotta, garlic and chives to cooled pumpkin and mix well. Lay a lasagna sheet on a flat clean surface. Arrange some spinach leaves along centre of sheet. Top with spoonfuls of pumpkin mixture. Roll up to enclose filling and place in prepared dish, seam side down. Continue making cannelloni with remaining lasagna sheets and filling.

4. Pour cream and stock over filled cannelloni in baking dish. Top with cheese. Bake for 30 minutes, until golden and bubbling. Serve pasta bake with salad leaves.

*Freezer tip. You can freeze the cannelloni at the end of step 3. Once thawed, continue the recipe as directed.