pumpkin, mascarpone, spinach and leek cannelloni

My first foray into cannelloni – and I wasn’t really properly prepared. I don’t know how I thought I would get the mixture inside the tubes, but luckily a pair of scissors and a Ziploc bag made for a wonderfully useful pastry bag.

I didn’t work from a set recipe on this – most of them are for spinach and ricotta, but I figured I would just roast up some pumpkin and add that to the mix. The instructions on the back of the cannelloni tubes box was helpful for timings.

Pumpkin, mascarpone, spinach and leek cannelloni
(serves 2)

Stuffing:
2 large leeks, chopped
100 g spinach
250-300 g pumpkin, chopped into 1cm cubes (or roasted in slices and then chopped)
1 tub of reduced-fat mascarpone, a quarter of it reserved for the passata sauce
50 g parmesan
Olive oil spray

12-15 cannelloni tubes
½ jar of passata
Reserved mascarpone
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Set the oven to 200 C and roast the pumpkin for about 30 minutes. Remove and chop up into small pieces if necessary.

Meanwhile, sauté the leeks in olive oil spray; after about five minutes, add the spinach and allow to wilt. Remove from heat and mix through the mascarpone and parmesan. Add the pumpkin and mix through too. Season with salt and pepper

Load the mixture into a pastry bag or a sealed bag and snip the corner. Use to fill the cannelloni tubes one by one. Place each one next to the other in a ovenproof dish.

Mix the rest of the mascarpone and the passata sauce (or chopped tomatoes) and pour over cannelloni tubes. Cook for 40 minutes and serve.

The sweetness of pumpkin and mascarpone delights the tongue, while the homey flavours of tomato and leek cut through the flavour. Not too decadent, but not requiring many sacrifices either. I was particularly impressed by the flavour of the reduced-fat mascarpone. It completely held its own in the heady mixture.