Pesto Ricotta Cannelloni

overhead shot of 3 ricotta pesto cannelloni on small white plate with silver fork on marble background

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5 from 1 vote

Cannelloni stuffed with dreamy pesto ricotta, baked in a rich tomato sauce & topped with copious amounts of cheese!

Prep Time10

Cook Time1 5

Total Time1 15

Course: Dinner, Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Servings:

Author: Chris Collins

Cost: £3.50 / $4

Equipment

12" Cast Iron Skillet & Wooden Spoon (or large pan and large baking dish)
Food Processor (for pesto)
Medium Sized Mixing Bowl (for filling)
Piping Bag & Pint Glass
Aluminium Foil
Fine Cheese Grater

Ingredients

Sauce

4 cups / 1kg Tomato Passata (pureed/strained tomatoes in US)
2 cups / 500ml Vegetable Stock
1/4 cup finely diced Fresh Parsley
2 heaped tbsp Tomato Puree (Tomato Paste in US)
1 medium Onion, finely diced
3 large cloves of Garlic, finely diced
1/2 tsp Sugar, or to taste
pinch of Chilli Flakes, to taste
Salt & Black Pepper, to taste
Olive Oil, as needed

Pesto

2oz / 60g Fresh Basil (2x small bunches)
1/2 cup / 40g freshly grated Parmesan
4 tbsp Pine Nuts, optionally toasted
3 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 clove of Garlic
1/4 tsp EACH: Salt, Black Pepper, or to taste

Cannelloni

16 Dried Cannelloni Tubes (~5.6oz/160g total)
1lb / 500g Ricotta (full fat)
9oz / 250g Mozzarella, half for filling, half for topping (see notes)
1/2 cup / 40g freshly grated Parmesan, for topping (plus more to serve if desired)
1 Egg
Salt & Pepper, as needed

Instructions

Sauce: Add a drizzle of oil to a 12" cast iron skillet (or regular pan) and fry the onion until soft & golden. Add garlic and fry for 1-2mins longer, then pour in passata and stock. Add parsley, chilli flakes, sugar, salt & pepper and bring to a gentle simmer. Stir occasionally over low-medium for 30mins to marry the flavours and thicken the sauce. Meanwhile...
Pesto: Add basil, pine nuts, parmesan, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper to a food processor and blitz until well combined (use a spatula to scrape down the sides in between pulses if needed).
Filling: In a medium-sized mixing bowl combine the pesto with ricotta and half the mozzarella. Test for seasoning then mix in the egg until evenly combined.
Cannelloni: Place a piping bag over a pint glass and add the pesto ricotta. Snip off the bottom to around half the diameter of the cannelloni. One by squeeze the pesto ricotta into the cannelloni until they're all packed full.
Prep to Bake: Scoop out around half of the cooked sauce and place into a jug or bowl to one side. Tightly place the filled cannelloni on to the sauce, then pour over the rest, making sure all the cannelloni is covered. If you were using a regular pan just pour half of the sauce into a baking dish, then top with cannelloni and the rest of the sauce.
Bake: Cover with foil and bake in the oven at 180C/350F for 30mins. Then remove the foil, top with the rest of the mozzarella and parmesan, then place back in the oven at 200C/400F for 10-15mins, or until golden/crisp on top.
Serve: Sprinkle over any leftover basil/parsley you've got, then serve up and enjoy!

Video

Notes

a) Cannelloni - I highly recommend placing the dried cannelloni in your skillet or baking dish before you do anything. This way you can figure out how they're going to fit beforehand. You also might end up with slightly more or less cannelloni depending on the size. For reference, mine were just under 1" wide and 4" long.

b) Pesto - This version will end up quite thick, with a lot less oil. Reason being it's being mixed in with the ricotta, so you don't want it too oily. You could use store-bought, just try and find a brand that's a little on the thicker side. The pesto in the recipe makes 4oz/120g.

c) Mozzarella - I actually prefer to use dry shredded mozzarella in the filling and thinly sliced fresh mozzarella for the top. However, if you've only got shredded mozzarella that'll work just fine on top.

d) Calories - Whole recipe divided by 5 assuming 1/2 tbsp olive oil for frying.

Nutrition