Spinach and Goats Cheese Cannelloni

I'm very tired.  I had the amazing gift of a day off being a Mummy on Saturday so I went to London to see the Preraphaelite exhibition at Tate Britain.  It was an amazing experience.  So many paintings I thought I knew well but seeing them in real life felt like poetry.

So after a full day on Saturday making a roast dinner felt like the last thing I wanted to do on Sunday and something about tiredness brings out the creativity in me so I came up with this off the top of my head.  I have to say even if I'm blowing my own trumpet, it was a success.  The wee man ate two cannellonis and half a slice of garlic bread all on his own occasionally looking up to say "hmmm".

What's best though is apart from this being a cheap meal (as meals without meat often are), it's delicious and it contains at least four hidden vegetables which are great for you; spinach, tomatoes, pepper and carrots.  Perfect for the little (or big) fusspot in your life.

Goat's cheese and spinach cannelloni - serves 2 adults and 1 toddler

Ingredients

9 Cannelloni tubes mine weighed about 90g (I used Asda own brand cannelloni tubes) but I suspect they vary in size
350g Home made tomato sauce, I used some from the freezer, the recipe is here

Filling
150g Soft, rindless goat's cheese
160g Frozen, chopped spinach, defrosted
20g Extra Mature (Sharp) cheddar, grated
A few grindings of nutmeg

Topping
60g Extra Mature (Sharp) cheddar, grated

Method

Preheat the oven to 180oC / 350F.

Drain off any water from the spinach and mix with the 20g of cheddar, nutmeg and goat's cheese.

Put half of the tomato sauce in the base of a dish then fill each tube up with the mixture.  This is a messy job.  When pumpkin is a bit older, he's so getting roped into this.  Put them in a single layer then pour over the rest of the tomato sauce and top with the rest of the cheddar.

Cover with a piece of foil and bake for 20 minutes.  Increase the heat to 200oC / 400F.  Remove the foil and bake for 10 more minutes.  Serve with vegetables or salad and garlic bread if liked.  I've linked this up to meatless mondays here.




So the exhibition.  I can't get over how beautiful it was; it filled my heart with love, joy and emotion.  The perfect antidote to the not so good bits in my life right now.  If you get the chance, go visit; if only to see Millais' Ophelia in real life, prints don't do her justice.