Ricotta and Spinach filled Cannelloni

This is a recipe that reminds dearly of my childhood. I remember it just like it was yesterday . When my mum used to make them me and my younger sister always wanted to help her out filling them in. I always liked helping out in the kitchen and ask a lot of questions. It very simple to do . I can't wait till my kids are old enough and they can start making a bigger mess then I already do on my own in the kitchen . I don't know about you , but my man is always complaining there is a lot of washing up to do!! I don't think I am that bad thou .

Cannelloni

Ingredients

300g of cannelloni
250g spinach
Pinch of nutmeg
30g of fresh basil and stalks
2 tsp of dreid oregano
3 garlic cloves
300g of ricotta
2 knob of butter
Olive oil
500ml of creme fraiche'
Parmeasan
Mozarella balls
1 tin plum tomatoes
1 tin passata
Seasoning


Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Total time: about an hour
Serves : 4
Level : easy

Method

Chop you garlic (use half the chopped garlic, you will need the other half for the sauce later) and add to the hot pan with butter and oil. Add the oregano and nutmeg, give it a stir and add the spinach, little at a time if it doesn't all fit in the pan. It will wilt quickly. And will go down to a very small portion. Don't worry about that , it's normal and it will be enough. Put it aside , (it needs to cool down a little) in a bowl big enough , so later you can mix everything in.  Now start your tomato sauce. Use the rest of your garlic and add to the pan with a little more oil. Add the stalks of the basil (finely chopped) to the pan and in with the tomatoes. Bring to a boil , season and add a pinch of sugar. Just to cut that acidic taste of the tomatoes and balance a bit more the flavours. Leave it simmer until it's not too runny and watery. Goes a little thick, shouldn't take more then 10 minutes. You can now go back to the spinach that you left on the side to cool. Squeeze the liquid out of the spinach ( do not discard, leave the liquid in the bowl) . Transfer the spinach onto a chopping board and chop it . Bring back to the bowl with the liquid and the ricotta. Add some parmesan and mix it all together.
So by now the sauce should be ready. Leave it to cool , and start filling your cannelloni one by one. You could use a piping bag or maybe if you don't have one use a plastic bag, fill it with the mixture, cut one end corner of it and use it as a piping bag. I'm quite happy filling them with my hands. I tried using the bag but it just didn't work for me .
Pile them nicely one next to each other in the baking tray. If you have one big enough and you can pile them all flat in story would be better. I done a lot so I layered another level on top the bottom one. Cover with the tomato sauce and mix it well so that even the bottom once are covered in the sauce. Now the creme fraiche' , spoon it on top of everything. I use creme fraiche' ins read of besciamella sauce. This is a very rich and filling this. So the besciamella makes it even richer. On the plus side creme fraiche' is even healthier and less fatty. Sprinkle some parmesan cheese , pepper and the mozzarella balls.

Bake in the oven 1800 degrees for about 25-30 minutes.