Jamie Cooks Spring
By Jamie Oliver
1 hr 30 mins
Not Too Tricky
serves 6
About the recipe
You can’t beat the comfort of baked pasta and here, I’m celebrating the delicious iron-y punch of spring chard as a filling. It contrasts beautifully with the sweet lightness of the tomato base and the creamy ooze of the cheesy topping. It’s springtime in a dish, and might just succeed in putting a bit of spring in your step!
Recipe From
Ingredients
2 sprigs of oregano
olive oil
2 small onions
4 cloves of garlic
1kg rainbow or Swiss chard, or other seasonal greens, such as rocket, kale, spinach
1 whole nutmeg, for grating
½ a lemon
TOMATO SAUCE
2 cloves of garlic
1 dried red chilli
1 bunch of basil (30g)
3 x 400g tins of quality plum tomatoes
250g dried cannelloni tubes
OOZY CHEESE SAUCE
250g ricotta cheese
60g Cheddar cheese
60g Parmesan cheese, plus extra for grating
1 large free-range egg
200ml semi-skimmed milk
Top Tip
EASY SWAPS
– If you don’t have fresh oregano, feel free to swap in dried herbs instead.
– I’ve used a mix of Cheddar and Parmesan in the cheese sauce, but you can absolutely just use one or the other, if that’s what you’ve got.
EMBELLISH IT
– Feel free to add extra flavour to the filling with things like mushrooms or olives, simply add to the mix when you’re frying off the chard stalks – have fun with it.
– It’s lovely to celebrate these gorgeous seasonal veg, but you could also halve the veg and add some Bolognese sauce.
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4.
- Pick the oregano leaves into a large cold non-stick pan with 3 tablespoons of olive oil, then place on a medium heat until it starts to sizzle, releasing that wonderful perfume.
- Peel and finely slice the onions and garlic, then add to the pan. Separate the chard leaves from the stalks, finely slice the stalks, add to the pan, and cook for a few minutes, or until the stalks are tender, stirring occasionally, then roughly chop and add the leaves. Cook for a few more minutes, or until wilted and cooked down.
- Finely grate in ¼ of the nutmeg, add a squeeze of lemon juice, season with sea salt and black pepper and mix well. Tip onto a board.
- For the tomato sauce, place a deep roasting tray (25cm x 30cm) on a medium heat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Peel and finely slice the garlic, finely chop the dried chilli, add to the tray, then pick in the basil leaves. Pour in the tomatoes, breaking them up with a spoon, add 1 tin’s worth of water, bring to the boil and leave to simmer.
- Finely chop the chard mixture, then stuff it into the cannelloni tubes. I like to use the tubes to scoop it up, pushing the filling in with my fingers or the end of a spoon. Once they’re all filled, nestle the cannelloni into the tray of sauce, and leave on the lowest heat.
- In a blender, blitz the cheese sauce ingredients together with a pinch of salt, then pour over the cannelloni, making sure all the tubes are covered. Grate over a little extra Parmesan, then carefully transfer to the bottom shelf of the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden, blipping and gorgeous.
- Leave to sit for 5 minutes, then serve with a lovely seasonal salad.
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