RICOTTA PASTA SAUCE RECIPES

Steps:

• 1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Put the spinach and a drizzle of olive oil in a large pan over a low heat. Add the nutmeg, season with sea salt and black pepper, cover and leave to sweat. Help the kids to stir it occasionally until the spinach has cooked down. Place in a bowl and set to one side to cool a little.
  2. Dice the onion and squash the garlic. In the same pan, heat a drizzle of olive oil and gently sweat the onion until soft.
  3. Scrunch in the tomatoes through your clean hands and add the garlic and bay leaf. Pick in a few basil leaves and grate in the zest of the lemon half, then let it gently simmer for 20 minutes until the sauce has thickened. Season with salt and pepper.
  4. Have the kids squeeze the moisture out of the spinach into the bowl. Place the spinach on a board so you can chop it up. Return the spinach to the liquid in the bowl.
  5. Beat the egg and grate 2 teaspoons of Parmesan cheese. Get the kids to stir the ricotta, egg and Parmesan into the spinach. Season to taste.
  6. Sit a piping bag in a jug, fold its edges over the rim, then spoon in the spinach mixture. Have the kids help pipe the mixture into the cannelloni tubes and lay them in a 20cm x 25cm oven dish.
  7. Spread the tomato sauce over the cannelloni. Pick the remaining basil leaves and scatter most of them over the tomato sauce. Slice the mozzarella and lay the slices on top, drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and season.
  8. Place in the oven and cook for 35 to 40 minutes or till the top is golden and the pasta tender (if the top browns too fast, cover the dish with foil). Remove from the oven and let stand for a few minutes before serving with the remaining basil leaves.

Steps:

• 1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4.
  2. In a tray, roast the squash whole for 1 hour. Add the ricotta and roast for another 30 minutes, or until the squash is cooked through.
  3. Halve it in the tray, discarding the skin and seeds. Pick, finely chop and add the basil leaves, then mash it all with the ricotta, scraping up any sticky bits from the tray. Taste, season to perfection, and cool.
  4. To make the pasta dough, put the eggs and flour into a food processor and whiz into a ball of dough. Knead on a flour-dusted surface until smooth. Cut in half, wrap in clingfilm and rest for 30 minutes.
  5. Flatten one piece of dough by hand. Run it through the thickest setting on a pasta machine, then take the rollers down two settings and run it through again to make it thinner.
  6. Now, fold it in half and run it back through the thickest setting again, repeating this a few times for super-smooth dough. Start rolling the sheet down through each setting, lightly dusting with flour as you go. Turn the crank with one hand while the other maintains just a little tension to avoid any kinks or folds.
  7. Take it right down to 1mm, then lay the sheet flat and stamp out circles with a 12cm cutter.
  8. Working quickly, spoon 1 heaped teaspoon of filling into the middle of each, lightly brush the exposed pasta with water, fold into half-moon shapes over the filling, gently pressing to squeeze out any air, and seal. Repeat with the second ball of dough.
  9. Warm the sauce in a pan over a medium heat, and in batches cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling salted water for just 2 minutes.
  10. Toss the pasta with the sauce and rocket and serve with finely grated Parmesan, finished with a few drips of extra virgin olive oil.