Description
If you love your slow cooker, this will BLOW YOUR MIND that you can cook a special pasta dish in it, vegetarian too! This is my healthy take on a Spinach & Ricotta Cannelloni using your slow cooker!
And save some time, by making this cheese & spinach mixture up and freezing it a freezer dump bag! Then thaw it overnight and pipe it into the pasta that morning.
Ingredients
450g frozen spinach or 1 fresh bunch, steamed and chopped
1 onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
450g ricotta
½ tspn nutmeg
1 lemon zested & juiced
½ bunch chopped parsley
100g grated parmesan
1 box cannelloni
S & P
Sauce:
700g tomato garlic & basil pasta sauce
½ cup broth
100g tasty cheese, grated
Instructions
STEP 1: Shred the green parts and steam if you're using fresh spinach. I then pop mine in a tea towel and let it cool so that all the water gets out. If using a frozen one, bring it to room temp. I put mine in a dish and leave it in the fridge overnight to do that. Or just heat in a pan.
STEP 2: Go ahead and brown your onion and garlic in a hot pan. Ensure, too, that your spinach is well-drained for the next step.
STEP 3: Now get going on mixing the drained spinach, cheeses, spices and onion mixture. Please give it a taste; you may want more lemon.
STEP 4: Pop 1/3 of the sauce mixture and all the broth into the base of the slow cooker.
STEP 5: Pop the spinach mixture into a piping bag and pipe the mixture into the pasta, or you can do this by hand. Fill your cooker with the pasta, and then pour the remaining pasta sauce over the top and the grated cheese. Leave it to cook for 3.5 hours on low or 2 hours on high, checking of course with a knife it is done earlier than that. I like to take the lid off the cooker for the last 30mins for it to crisp up.
STEP 6: Make up a side salad and enjoy.
Notes
Gluten-free: Use a GF pasta or make it into a lasagna in the cooker with rice paper sheets.
FODMAP: Use green leeks + garlic oil.
Dairy-free: Switch the ricotta for cashew cheese and sprinkle with nutritional yeast.