Easy Spinach & š± Ricotta Cannelloni
Simple homemade wfpb cannelloni that you can roll-up, instead of stuff. From scratch in 30 minutes or less.
Equipment
- 1 Pot
- 1 Spice / Coffee Grinder (a blender or food processor will also work)
Ingredients
LENTIL RICOTTA
- Ā¼ cup lentils (or omit and use tofu or cooked beans etc.)
- 1 tbsp oats (omit if using tofu)
- Ā¼ tbsp onion powder
- 1 cup spinach chopped, fresh or frozen
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- Ā½ cup water
OAT MOZZA (optional)
- 2 tbsp oats (you could also use split peas, seeds, nuts, etc.)
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- ā tsp garlic granulated
- 1 tbsp white vinegar
- Ā¼ cup water or more as needed
- 2 tbsp (cassava flour, tapioca starch, sticky rice flour etc.) (optional, only if you must have stretchy mozza)
TOMATO SAUCE
- 2 tbsp onion any color (onion powder of 1 tsp will work as a substitute)
- 1 cup tomatoes diced, fresh or canned
- 1 cup tomato paste or tomato puree
- 2 tbsp basil fresh or 1 tbsp dried
- Ā½ tsp oregano dried
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar (optional)
- 2 cups water
CANNELLONI PASTA
- follow the
fast & easy wheat free pasta (Fettuccine) dough recipe below until step 4. or use store bought cannelloni if you prefer.
Instructions
- Grind up yourĀ Lentil Ricotta dry ingredients (lentils, oats, and onion powder) then add the powder and the lemon juice, vinegar, and water to a pot on medium heat, stirring often, until most of the liquid is reduced, or about 5 minutes. (If too much liquid is reduced you can add a bit of heavy oat milk (3 tbsp ground oats with Ā½ cup water). If youāre using fresh chopped spinach then add it now to wilt and cook it right in to theĀ Lentil Ricotta. Remove theĀ Lentil RicottaĀ from the pot and place it in a dish in the fridge or freezer to set (about 5 minutes in the freezer, 10 in the fridge;remember the thinner itās spread the faster and firmer it will set).*a note about the video: I added tahini to the first batch but it makes it too dense so I would omit it.
- Grind up the oats for theĀ Oat MozzaĀ and add all of theĀ Oat MozzaĀ ingredients to the same post on medium-low heat. Stir and cook until it thickens and is no longer wet to the touchālike a lightly tacky soft putty (figure 2B). Reserve theĀ Oat MozzaĀ for later.
- TIP: Making a cross mark (figure 3A)Ā will keep your dough more square and less round, try it! Store-bought pasta tip: if using pasta tubes then skip this step (3) and go to the next step (4).Grind up your dough ingredients (Ā½ cup oats, 2 tbsp chia seeds) and mix with Ā¼ cup water until a dough forms, kneed it in your hands (like squishing a stress ball) for about a minute then start rolling it out (I used a water bottle, but a soup can or similar will also work if you donāt have a rolling pin.) Then cut your sheet of (20mm 8 inches wide; 40mm long) dough vertically.
- Store-bought pasta tip: stuff the dried pasta shells with the filling for this step and everything else is the same.Take about a teaspoon of theĀ Oat MozzaĀ and mix it with about 2-3 tbsp of theĀ Lentil RicottaĀ and mix and shape them into a log then place the log at one end of a pasta sheet . Next, roll the sheet over so the filling is inside of the roll, and then cut the dough (figure 4B) continue this process until all the filling and the dough is all used up. You should get about 6 cannelloni.
- Add onions and water to a pot (we boil the onions in this instance to get the microwave-dinner flair, but feel free to sautee them for more flavor) cook them for a minute or two then add all the otherĀ Tomato SauceĀ ingredients to the pot, and bring it to a low boil on high heat.Hint: For more authentic flavor add some fresh garlic
- Reduce the heat to a medium-low and add your cannelloni, sinking each one below the sauce so itās fully covered in sauce.
- Store-bought pasta tip: cook the pasta in the sauce for as long as it says, it might take a bit longer to fully soften the pasta tubes than the fresh gluten-free pasta.When all the cannelloni are added, and covered in sauce, youāll want to cover the pot with a lid and cook for 5-10 minutes (at the most). Serve with fresh basil and cheezy not parm powder.
