Pumpkin and Spinach Cannelloni
Pumpkin and Spinach Cannelloni is a main course vegetarian dish popular in many countries of the world. It is easy to prepare at home, and takes about 90 minutes. However, if you manage to do some pre-preparations earlier, it helps to save the cooking time.
For cooking a serving for 4 people, you need the following ingredients – 2 cups of pumpkin (grated butternut), 2 cups of chopped spinach, 2 cups of chopped tomatoes, 2-3 large mushrooms – sliced, 1 cup of corn kernels, some fresh basil and oregano, around 250 grams of cannelloni tubes, 1 cup creamed corns, 1 cup of homemade tomato sauce, some dried mixed herbs, half white onion – chopped finely, some black olives, garlic powder, ground pepper, minced chilli, celery salt, ½ cup of chopped and sun-dried tomatoes, and 2 tablespoons of canola margarine.
For the preparation, take a pan and heat some oil in it. When the oil is ready, fry the mushrooms, onions, sun-dried tomatoes, along with some pepper, chilli, garlic powder, basil, oregano, celery salt, canola margarine and black olives. Next, add the pumpkin, tomatoes, spinach and corn kernels to the pan and cook for about 5-6 minutes. When it is ready with all the ingredients mixed well and the vegetables tender enough, remove the mixture from the stove. Use it to stuff the cannelloni tubes.
When the cannelloni tubes are ready with the filling, take a casserole dish and place the stuffed cannelloni neatly in it. Then cover the pieces by spreading the homemade tomato sauce and the creamed corn evenly. Top it up with the mixed dried herbs.
The baking time will depend on the kind of oven you have. If you have a fan forced oven, bake at 200 degrees for around 30 minutes, and then to 140 degrees till the colour turns golden brown. Or if you have a standard oven, then bake at 210 degrees for around 40 minutes, and then at 150 degrees till the colour becomes golden brown.
Along with spinach and pumpkin, you can use other vegetables too in the dish such as peppers, chopped cauliflower etc. For the garnish, you can use grated mozzarella cheese. Some people prefer a creamier and cheesy taste for which white sauce is a good option when covering the cannelloni before baking. You can add parsley and sesame too.
Spinach and pumpkin are both good for the health, and adding more vegetables to this wonderful and delicious dish makes it even more nutritious for consumption. Besides, the dish is such that you can customise it easily according to the needs, tastes and preferences of your family members. Pumpkin and spinach cannelloni is also a great dish to be made at a party of a family get-together, where you will be able to treat your guests with not just a tasty and filling dish, but also one that it is very healthy.
If you are a non-vegetarian, then you can also look at adding some chicken to this dish. Chop the chicken and mince it before you add it to the filling. Or simply fry it and then add it. Chicken again is a good source of protein, and it will help you make the dish healthier. There are a lot of versions of the basic Pumpkin and Spinach Cannelloni recipe, and it completely depends on your creativity and experimental cooking on what you make out of it.
A small thing to note – sometimes the cannelloni packs have specific instructions about the temperature on which it is supposed to be baked. It is always good to check these and see if they are in accordance with the baking time of your dish.
- Ronit Baugh
Tags: cannelloni baking, cannelloni baking time, pumpkin and spinach cannelloni recipe, pumpkin with cannelloni, spinach with cannelloni
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