A Twist on Jamie Oliver (some birthday food, part II)

After I offered to cook a (hopefully) yummy dinner for my boyfriend's birthday, the main dish was of course one of his choice - and he selected "awesome spinach and ricotta cannelonni" from Jamie Oliver's fantastic cookbook (though all of his cookbooks are fantastic!) "Jamie's Dinners." I tweaked it ever so slightly, but it still seemed to come out quite well. The biggest difference in my version, fundamental as it was, came with using large shells instead of cannelloni (I shopped at Whole Foods for ingredients shortly before cooking and the only large stuffable pasta they had were shells). I think it worked though because the stuffing was still contained inside a pasta, and no taste was lost.

My ingredient list:
2 bags of baby spinach (about 8 cups)
a container of fresh basil (enough for about a handful), chopped
olive oil
light butter
fresh mozzarella - about 7 oz, diced (got some made locally that was amazing!)
14-16oz container part-skim ricotta
Approx. 3 cups grated parmesean
28 oz crushed tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
2 crushed garlic cloves
A dash or two of dried nutmeg
A handful of fresh oregano, chopped
A pinch of salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste (I like lots!)
8 oz creme fraiche
3 anchovies, finely chopped
1 box of large pasta shells - cooked al dente, drained, and cooled enough to handle

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a large sauce pan over med-high heat, drizzle some olive oil (1/2 tbsp or so; you can add more if/as you need it) and about a tablespoon of butter. When the butter starts to melt, add one clove of garlic and sprinkle in a few shakes of nutmeg. Give it a minute or two and then start adding in spinach by the handful - fill the pan a keep stirring/turning the spinach over to help it cook down, and as it wilts keep adding more until you've used all of it. Cook until spinach is thoroughly wilted (about 5 min.) and then transfer to a bowl to cool - once it has cooled, drain and save the liquid, finely chop the spinach and then recombine it with the liquid (note: I followed Jamie's instructions of cooking and then chopping the spinach - but it'd probably work to chop it pre-cooking just as well - or to shred the cooked spinach in a food processor). Add a bit more olive oil to the pan and the rest of the garlic, and after about a minute add the basil, the can of crushed tomatoes and 14 oz of water by filling the tomato can halfway - or, if you use two 14-oz cans, just fill one of those up completely (note: once I added the water, the mixture became a little too thin - probably because of the kind of tomatoes I used - so I then added a few tablespoons of tomato paste to thicken it up). Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer and add a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Simmer for about 10-15 minutes, until it thickens up a bit (it will still be thinner than some traditional tomato sauces).

Add the ricotta and 3/4-1 cup of parmesean to the spinach and combine thoroughly. Pour the tomato sauce into a baking pan. Stuff the cooked pasta shells with the spinach mixture and line them up in single-layer rows in the pan over the sauce (the sauce will come up a bit around the pasta). In a bowl, mix the creme fraiche, 1-1 1/2 cups of parmesean and the anchovies and add in a little water until the sauce is easy to drizzle with a spoon (it will be thick). Spoon desired amount over the shells, and sprinkle the fresh mozzarella over the entire pan and any remaining parmesean (to taste). Bake uncovered for about 25 minutes, or until the top is golden and bubbling. When done, remove it from the oven and let it sit for a couple of minutes before cutting in, and serve with a salad and slices of crusty fresh bread.





Okay so this picture may not paint the most mouth-watering portrait, but it was delicious!