Three Cheese Silverbeet Cannelloni

Raid your garden to make this ultimate dinner dish – you’ll be very pleased you made the effort. It has everything going for it – the three yummy cheese combo, the silken textures of the béchamel sauce, sweet tomatoes, comforting pasta and bacon and you can prepare this ahead of time, freeze it and be the ultimate host. Look at it like three very simple steps rolled into one.

Leave bacon out for a vegetarian option

Photo: Recipe Tin Eats

Ingredients

Bechamel Sauce

• 75g butter
• 1 garlic clove, halved
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 300ml milk
• a pinch nutmeg
• 50g shredded mozzarella

Tomato sauce

• olive oil for saute
• 1/3 cup finely chopped red onion
• 2 tbsp Italian parsley, chopped
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 handful of basil leaves
• seasoning to taste

Filling:

• 250g cooked silverbeet
• 70g ricotta
• 70g crumbled feta
• 100g chopped bacon (optional)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 tbsp grated parmesan
• 1 packet fresh lasagne sheets

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Warm milk in microwave for 1 minute on high. Heat the butter gently, add the garlic. Add the flour, stirring all the time, then the milk. Stir until the béchamel sauce thickens. Add the spice and mozzarella. Remove garlic and season.

To make the tomato sauce, heat some olive oil, add the onion. Then add the parsley fry gently until soft. Then add the tomatoes. Stir in the basil and, simmer for 10 minutes.

For the filling, mix the spinach, the cheese and the bacon with the egg and the Parmesan. Season and cool. Lay out lasagne sheets, trim to the width of the baking dish and cut into six portions. Divide filling into six. Spoon each portion onto the lasagne squares, roll into tubes and place in a buttered baking dish. Spoon over the béchamel sauce, then add a layer of the tomato sauce on top. Bake for 30 - 40 minutes.