Cannelloni with Spinach - Ricotta and Smoked Salmon

Updated: 5 days ago

## Cannelloni Delight: Spinach, Ricotta, and Smoked Salmon

Cannelloni with Spinach - Ricotta and Smoked Salmon

This dish is an awesome Italian creation with ricotta-spinach and smoked salmon. It's got a fantastic taste and it's totally irresistible. I make it all the time because it's just so delicious and fragrant. It's kind of like lasagna, and I always stick to this method because it turns out super tasty and juicy every time! Plus, it's easy to whip up and disappears fast. For this recipe, I use store-bought fresh lasagna sheets and béchamel sauce, which saves a ton of time, so the whole thing is ready in just 50 minutes. You'll also need salmon, ricotta, lemon, onions, and garlic, these are my basic ingredients. Just follow the steps!

Ingredients: easy, total time: 60 min. 4 servings

Preparation:

Preparation spinach:

Wash the fresh spinach well, dry it in a strainer, and chop it into small pieces.
If you are using frozen spinach, there is no need for this, just cut them into smaller pieces. Then prepare the filling.

Preparation of spinach and Ricotta:

Fry the onion in a pan with a little oil, about 5 minutes, then add the minced garlic, and simmer for about half a minute, until it releases its aroma.
When it turns yellow and soften, add chopped spinach, season with 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and black pepper to taste, let it cook for about 10 minutes, with occasionally stirring. Set aside to cool.
In a medium deeper bowl, mix the ricotta, spinach, lemon peel, a pinch of salt, black pepper, and sprinkle with 2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese. Set aside.

Preparation of salmon:

Fry the smoked salmon into thin slices in a little olive oil 1–2 minutes, until it brightens and changes color.
Transfer to a plate with a slotted spoon and bake in several rounds. Let them cool.

Preparation Pasta Sheets:

For this time blanch the lasagna in a pan of boiling, salted water for 1–2 minutes, drain on a cloth, arrange on a work surface,
If you use fresh pasta like me, there is no need to blanch them in water.
If are longer homemade sheets about 40 cm, cut them into two equal parts with scissors, my lasagna sheets are dimensions 20×13 cm and there's no need to cut them.

Béchamel sauce:

I bought a ready-made 1 liter of béchamel sauce. If you want to make it at home, see the recipe here.
Pour the 1 liter of béchamel sauce into a medium saucepan, add about 170 ml of milk, 2 teaspoons of oregano or to taste, a pinch of nutmeg and 1teaspoon of salt, stir constantly over low-moderate heat until it is well heated. It should not boil, remove from heat.

Cannelloni filling:

Fill each sheet with 1 spoon of mixture ricotta--spinach, add strip of salmon, then drizzle with a little béchamel sauce, roll in cannelloni. (When you put the salmon, line it up to the middle, no more so that it can be nicely curled into a roll, do not overcrowd. See the picture below!)
I used two baking dishes dimension 20×30 cm and 30×17 cm, one of which held 9 pieces of cannelloni and the other 7.
I transferred the other one baking dish in the fridge for the next day, because that way I save time in cooking. But if you have a larger family, bake everything at once.
Arrange cannelloni in a greased rectangular suitable baking dish, coated with 1 big spoon of béchamel sauce, next to each other.
Pour the remaining béchamel sauce over the cannelloni, (I poured the rest of the salmon oil over the béchamel that was frying), then sprinkled with grated Parmesan cheese over, as you like you can add oregano too, it will give a good smell.
Spread the béchamel in both baking dish, put more béchamel in the larger one. I wanted my cannelloni to be only in one layer so that they don't go over each other because it looks better that way!
Bake cannelloni in a preheated oven at 170 °C for 30–35 minutes.
As soon as they are ready, leave them to cool for about 7–10 minutes and serve.

Buon appetito!

NOTE:

Take the frozen spinach out of the freezer before preparing it, 1 hour before.
If you want, you can blanch the salmon in salted water for about 1–2 minutes if you want to avoid oil.
In order to get a larger amount of store-bought béchamel, you can mix it with 170 ml of milk, and cook it on low-moderate heat for about 5.-7 minutes.
I added about 4–5 spoons of grated Parmesan over the béchamel.
Keep the rest of the food in the refrigerator covered with aluminum foil for up to 2 days.
You can freeze these cannelloni together with poured the béchamel sauce for a month well-packed in an aluminum vial and in a special box with a lid so that it does not absorb other smells. You can cover it with a bag.