Silver beet Cannelloni: Delight or Disaster?

My neighbors (landlords) keep a garden, and they had a surplus of silver beet, or Swiss Chard, a popular garden vegetable here in New Zealand.  I cannot remember eating chard before; however, I was told that it is similar to spinach.  Rus and I recently had dinner at a fabulous Italian restaurant where I ate cannelloni (pasta sheets filled with meat or cheese), and I thought:  why not try to make silver beet cannelloni?

I had some lasagna sheets (they are wide, flat sheets of pasta without ridges on the side) and pine nuts in the pantry.  I had Parmesan, ricotta, and mozzarella cheese.  I had garlic.  And, I had the silver beet.  Time to cook!

Here is what I did:

1. Preheat the oven to 175C (about 350F).

2. Thoroughly wash each leaf of silver beet.  Cut the thick stems off and finely chop.

3. Mince several cloves of garlic (you can never have too much garlic!).

4. Crush the pine nuts with a mortar and pestle, or food processor, if you have one.

5. Set a pan of water to boil (for the pasta).  Add some olive oil to keep pasta from sticking together.

6. Saute the garlic and silver beet in a generous amount of olive oil on medium-high heat, stirring continuously, until the silver beet cooks down to about a third of its original size.  Add the crushed pine nuts, and saute for a few more minutes.

7. Remove silver beet from heat; transfer to a mixing bowl.  Add a pinch of sea salt and the ricotta cheese and mix thoroughly (if you have a food processor, this would be an excellent opportunity to use it).  Add some shredded Parmesan and mozzarella to the mixture.

8. Once cooked, drain pasta sheets and run cold water over them until they are cool enough to pick up.

9. Taking care not to tear them, lay out a sheet of pasta.  Fill with the silver beet and cheese mixture and roll up.

10.  Place assembled cannelloni in baking dish, cover with shredded mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.

11. Put into the oven and bake for 30-45 minutes, or until cheese on top bubbles and lightly browns.

12.  Cover with fresh, chopped tomatoes and serve with a pinot noir, merlot, or a chardonnay.

Prep time: 30 minutes

Serves: 4

Results:

This dish was hot, cheesy, and garlicky - yum!  Silver beet, while similar to spinach, is more bitter and slightly grainy.  A food processor, which would have pulverised the silver beet, would have been a big help with this dish in eliminating the slight graininess.  Also, the younger the silver beet is, the less bitter.  When I make it again, I will use even more garlic and a bit more salt while sauteing.

Rus loved the silver beet cannelloni, especially for lunch the next day when the flavours set in.

Overall, this Tasty Tuesday was a DELIGHT!

Did you try this recipe?  How did it turn out?  Leave a comment in the “Comments” section!