Aubergine & courgette cheese cannelloni
€3.19│ €0.80 per portion │ Serves 4 │ 30-45mins │ Italy
Aubergines and courgettes roasted beautifully and stuffed with soft cheese, spinach, and red onion. Light and super satisfying, aubergine & courgette cannelloni are simple to cook - making it a great addition to a meal plan.
What to serve it with?
Aubergine & courgette cheese cannelloni are delicious with a lovely, crusty bread. Because the rolls are very soft in texture, it helps to pair it with something crunchy. Bread is also great, because you'll want to mop up all the tasty tomato sauce! Another great side is a fresh, peppery salad with rocket and cherry tomatoes.
Bake ciabatta until warm and crusty. Cut in thumbnail thick diagonal slices. In a small bowl, add olive oil, salt, pepper, and dried herbs like rosemary or parsley to taste. Dip bread in olive oil.
How to use in a meal plan
Good home economics is using ingredients smartly - and that saves money and cuts food waste. A meal plan is a great way to do this.
Aubergine & courgette cheese cannelloni are a good way to use up soft cheese. While red onion lasts a while and spinach can be frozen, if you're like us it's easy to open a ricotta or mascarpone and then not use it for a few days. As well, it uses up a half-open can of crushed tomato (or can leave one half-open for another dish).
It's also a good mid-week meal when you want something less demanding. While rolling requires attention, there's no pre-cooking involved (less clean-up, always great) and the cooking is hands-off in the oven.
Leftovers
Spoonfeed meal plans save you money by using the economy of scale. Making dinner also your leftover lunch avoids spending money and extra time cooking!
Aubergine & courgette cheese cannelloni are delicious the next day too! Simply heat in the oven or microwave. Because aubergine/courgette is pretty rubbery to begin with, the microwave doesn't affect the texture like it does pasta or a tortilla.
Utensils
- Mixing bowl
- Baking pan
- Cling film
- Peeler
Ingredients
- 2 aubergine/courgette (use one of each or pick two of only one)
- 1/2 medium red onion
- 150g ricotta/boursin/mascarpone
- 125g spinach (frozen)
- 100g crushed tomato can
- 50g cheese to grate
- Olive oil
Method
- Dice red onion thinly. Defrost frozen spinach in the microwave, we do this in a bowl with a splash of water.
- Add to a mixing bowl with your chosen soft cheese (in the picture we used garlic and herb boursin!) and mix with a spoon until evenly distributed.
- Peel your aubergine/courgette in long, thin strips.
- Set cling film down on the counter as your rolling station. Place several strips of vegetable down on the cling film, overlapping them. Fill the closer 2/3 of the strip's length, leaving a bit of space on close edge to roll up.
- Prepare a baking pan by drizzling a splash of olive oil and adding crushed tomato, with salt and pepper, then spread to cover the bottom.
- Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees if necessary. Roll strips by using the cling film to up-turn the close edges, then get your fingers on them to keep it all together. Roll carefully, then transfer to the baking pan. Repeat until complete. Any leftover filling can be spooned into the edges of the baking pan, lightly pushing into the strips. Top with grated cheese and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden.
- This is a great time to prepare sides like salad or bread and olive oil.
- When it's golden on top and cooked through, slice and serve.
- Enjoy!