La Famiglia

Passport & Plate - Spring Lasagne Rolls

Italy | Thursday, March 5, 2015 | 3 photos

Ingredients
500g 00 flour
2 egg yolks
2 tbsp olive oil
(or fresh lasagne, bought)
2 courgettes
500g spinach
1 small pumpkin/squash
250g ricotta cheese
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
2 x 400g tins tomatoes
1 fresh bunch basil
1/2 red chilli
80g cheddar or Parmesan to top.

 

How to prepare this recipe
Preheat oven to 180.c

1, Make your pasta dough by mixing the flour, egg and olive oil in a food processor. You may need some water to bring this together at the end or use your hands to shape into a dough. Shape into ball, careful not to over need it making it gluey by over activating the gluten in the flour. Leave to sit in the fridge for 30 minutes.
2, Peel and chop your pumpkin into about 2cm sq chunks and bring to the boil in salted water.
2, Finely chop the onion, chili and garlic. Saute this in some olive until fragrant
3, Add the tinned tomatoes to the onion mix and allow to simmer until soft (about 25 minutes)
4, Use a speed peeler to get thin strips of courgette
5, Pop the bag of spinach in the microwave for 2 minutes to wilt
6, One your pumpkin is soft, drain and set aside.
7, If making your own pasta, lightly flour a surface in preparation for rolling. Roll you pasta into one long thin strip, and separate into about 15-20cm long rectangles.
8, Begin by using 3 or 4 strips of courgette laying flat on the pasta, then a thin layer of spinach, a few chunks of pumpkin distributed on the pasta and lastly a few dollops of ricotta. One of the best things about Italian food is the freedom I think, so just plop them on randomly spaced out. Season with salt & pepper. Gently roll this up, some filling will spill out, and be pushed to the end. But not to worry, you won't even tell once its in the oven.
9, Continue to make these rolls until all the filling has been used. This generally makes 10 rolls for me and feeds a hungry family of 5.
10, Place each roll into a large baking dish, tightly packed to ensure they all keep their shape. (If you have left over pasta you can leave it in the fridge, roughly slice, blanche in hot water and serve with good olive oil, fresh basil and cheese for a quick lunch)
11, Pour the tomato sauce on top of the rolls, top with grated cheese and bake for 45 minutes at 180.c

 

The story behind this recipe
My mother's grandmother was Italian, and spent a lot of time educating my mother in this way, and the importance of family - which in Italy revolves around food! Bonding over cooking with one another, and the importance of sitting down at the table with your loved ones and sharing a meal. This recipe is a sort of hybrid of the meals we eat at home, combined with some of the skills of cooking I have picked up from else where.

I have such wonderful memories of sharing meals with family, enjoying pasta dishes served with fresh homemade sun dried tomato foccacia, loud voices going across the table, glasses clinking. My mother originally showed me this recipe with just the spinach and ricotta stuffed into cannelloni tubes. I immediately loved the opportunity of a dish like this, and how easy it is to alter and to add ingredients you love, expanding on the flavour.

Working on yachts, with many nationalities being away from home meant I could help people have a little taste of home with different meals, the Italian crew members especially loved the pasta dishes, and this was a great one to serve up for dinners after a hard day of work.

This was one of the first recipes I made alone for my family. I made such a mess of the kitchen, there was flour on the ceilings and in my hair, tomato sauce up the walls when I placed the finished result on the table with the kitchen looking like a crime scene. Generally this dish isn't the most beautiful of meals, I prefer a more rustic approach anyway, but it has different depths of flavour that I just love. The creamy ricotta cheese complimenting the sweet pumpkin. The courgette ribbons helping to hold all the filling in place with the pasta.

To me, this recipe means sharing, and red wine, and laughter and Sundays.