vegetables | inside out cannelloni

Serves 2-4 with salad or vegetables

This is a lovely dish. It takes slightly longer to cook than the cheats's lasagne, so you can always use the quick version of the filling from that recipe if you were pushed for time. You sit the cannelloni on a bed of the filling mixture to balance out the silken tofu and spinach mixture - which you need in that quantity to ensure the pasta is covered so that it cooks. If you can't get hold of wheat free pasta tubes, you could always try pre-cooking wheat free pasta sheets or layering as you would a lasagne. Failing that, make the filling (layer with spinach if wish), forget the silken tofu, top with sliced cooked potatoes and turn it into a bake!

Wheat free, dairy free, nut free, meat free version...

Method...

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C.
2. In a pan, sauté the onions in the oil until softened, then add the garlic for a few minutes.
3. Add the chopped mushrooms and 2tbsp wine and stir well.
4. The mushrooms should absorb the wine - let them cook until the juices are absorbed and the mushrooms are soft.
5. Add the tomatoes, sun dried tomato paste, balsamic vinegar and oregano.
6. Let this simmer for 10-15 minutes.
7. Add the cayenne and if you feel necessary, add another tbsp wine.
8. Season with salt and pepper. Add the sugar and mix well.
9. Take the tubes and fill, but put onto a separate plate.
10. Then tip the remaining mixture into the bottom of an oven proof dish and smooth out.
11. Lay the filled pasta tubes on top.
12. For the topping, simply rinse the spinach in a colander, wilt by pouring boiling water over. Squeeze excess water out and put into blender.
13. Add the tofu and blitz!
14. Then add the nutmeg and salt and pepper and stir through.
15. Pour over the tubes.
16. Top with slices of tomato and sprinkle with oregano.
17. Bake for 45 minutes or until pasta is cooked

Maybe serve with...

This is lovely served on its own because it's packed full of ingredients.

For those able to eat wheat ...

This would be lovely served with a garlic baguette or any crusty wheat bread.

For those able to eat meat ...

You can always separate out the filling mixture, cook some minced beef, add some of mixture then put in a separate dish to cook.

For those who can eat dairy ...

You could either put a portion in a separate dish and simply grate some cheese on top. Or, make a separate cheese sauce (see cheat's lasagne).

If you have mushrooms leftover, see the mushroom pate. If you have Chinese wraps leftover, see the fajita feast. If you have tomatoes, sun dried tomato paste, onion and mushrooms leftover, see the mushroom provençal.

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