Cannelloni with Ricotta, Butternut Squash and Almonds

Serving: 15

This dish is another one of those recipes that will surprise and impress the diners. It’s a simple few ingredients that when come together are amazing. It’s a veggie dish that you would eat and not realize it was meatless.

Ricotta Ingredients

30                        Lasagna sheets, dried

5 cups                 Ricotta cheese

2                           Butternut squash, peeled and finely diced

8oz                        Parmesan

2 oz                       Sliced almonds

Sm bunch            Flat parsley, shredded

2 oz                       Butter or oil

Salt/Pepper

Instructions

1. Pre heat your oven to 360°F.
2. Peeling a butter nut squash can be tricky, the first thing I do is to top and tail the squash. This is basically just cutting off the top and bottom, I then cut the squash in half separating the bulbous bit from the long piece. The next job is to place the cut end on the cutting board and tack your knife from top to bottom peeling a couple of cm off at a time. The bulbous bit then needs cut in half lengthwise and the seeds removed. Cut each piece into a manageable size and then cut into small dice.  
3. Cook squash in a cool pan with a little butter until softened allow to cool.
4. Add the cooked butternut squash to the ricotta then add the herbs and parmesan. 
5. To cook the pasta sheets, bring a large pot of salted water with a little oil in to the boil and add the sheets one at a time once cooked cool in cold water.
6. Once cooked carefully remove the sheets and remove any excess water from them and brush with a little oil.  
7. To assemble the cannelloni’s, place ricotta mix at the end of the sheet of lasagne and roll up to form a tight cigar shape. 
8. Place them into in an oven proof dish and spoon over some of the sauce (recipe below). Oven-bake at 360˚F for 10 minutes or until piping hot. Sprinkle over almonds and serve straight away.

Sauce Ingredients

4 cups                   Heavy cream

2 oz                       Butter

4 large                   Shallot, finely diced

1 cup                     Dry white wine

1 cup                     Light chicken stock (you can use a good quality stock cube)

Salt/pepper

Instructions

1. Over a medium heat melt the butter and once the butter starts to foam add the finely diced shallots and cook without colour for 30 second to a minute until translucent and softened.
2. Add white wine and turn up the heat to bring to a rapid boil and reduce the wine by 1/2.
3. Add the chicken stock and again rapidly reduce by 1/2, pour in the cream and lower the heat in the pan to a gentle simmer as the cream reduces.
4. The sauce will begin to naturally thicken reduce by approx.  1/4 until the sauce glazes the back of a tablespoon.

Notes

This dish will keep fresh for 72 hours and should be cooled quickly as possible once made.