Baked Spinach and Ricotta Rotolo is like Lasagna Rolls Ups and Cannelloni – but BETTER because it’s got brown crunchy bits. And crunchy bits are always the best!
Spinach and Ricotta Rotolo
I’m going to call it – this will be the best new thing you’ve made all year. The rich tomato sauce. The creamy spinach and ricotta filling spiked with parmesan and nutmeg. Golden brown bubbly cheese. And the brown crunchy bits, the crowning glory.
How inappropriate would it be to pick off all the crunchy bits before it gets to the table? 😂
What is Rotolo?
Rotolo is a traditional Italian dish that’s not widely known outside of Italy. The literal translation of “rotolo” is “scroll” or “coil”.
The authentic way of making rotolo involves a very large fresh pasta sheet that is spread with a filling then rolled up to form a roulade. It’s quite technical and fussy because you then need to wrap the roulade in a tea towel and poach it, then slice it to serve with a sauce.
For day to day cooking, I shelved this as a “too hard” recipe. But then I came across this baked version made by Jamie Oliver. The way he made it, it was basically cannelloni made with fresh lasagna sheets which is sliced then placed into the tomato sauce and baked.
It’s not purely authentic, but for ordinary people like me, it is much more practical. And so darn tasty! Those brown bits….those crunchy brown bits. They make this dish!
Basically, if you love Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni (or this pasta bake or lasagna, for that matter!) then you’re going to be mad over this Rotolo. Guaranteed.
Spinach Ricotta Rotolo Rilling
Rotolo comes with all sorts of stuffing options. Jamie Oliver’s recipe is made with squash and spinach, it’s also made with meat, and Spinach & Ricotta is a popular option which is what I’ve gone with.
Here’s what you need for the filling:
PS Let’s pretend I didn’t forget to put LASAGNA SHEETS in the above photo! Fresh best, but if you can only get dried, just boil to cook then use per recipe.
Want a meat filling?
Use the filling from this Spinach & Beef Cannelloni – scale up by 50% (ie use 750g/1.5lb beef, or use extra spinach), cool (will thicken) then roll!
Spinach Ricotta Rotolo Sauce
And here’s what you need for the sauce:
Tomato Passata is key for this sauce. Because it’s pureed tomato, it’s the ideal consistency to make a smooth tomato sauce for the Rotolo with just 5 minutes simmering. Using canned tomato would require at least 30 minutes simmering for the chunks to break down enough to make the desired consistency for the sauce.
How to make Baked Rotolo
And here’s how it’s made:
- Make the sauce first;
- Mix filling, roll up, cut into thirds;
- Place in sauce, bake!
The smells coming out of your oven while it’s baking are pretty darn good.
But that moment when you pull it out of the oven and you stare at what you’ve just made, mesmerised by how magnificent it looks…. it’s worth making, just to see THIS in real life:
They’re quite sturdy little things, so you don’t need to dig in with a delicate touch. They hold together well (the lasagna sheets adhere as they cook) and they hold their form pretty well as you scoop them up. See? (And just WAIT until you see the video!)
Truthfully though, some will flop and sag, and fall on their side, and you probably will rip the side off some of the them as you scoop into the pan to plate them up.
And that’s completely on theme. There’s nothing elegant about this Spinach and Ricotta Rotolo. It’s rustic. The best sort of food – relaxed deliciousness!
Being that there’s a couple of bunches of spinach in this (ahem, in the form of frozen spinach!) and a big bottle of tomato passata, there’s actually a decent amount of vegetables in this dish. So I usually serve it just as is without any sides for a casual midweek meal.
But a fresh side salad would certainly elevate the meal – this Rocket Salad with Parmesan Shavings is very on theme (classic Italian) – and I am pretty sure nobody would say no to a side of Garlic Bread.
Now, go forth and impress the pants off your family and friends! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Baked Spinach and Ricotta Rotolo
Ingredients
- 8 - 10 fresh lasagne sheets (15 x 11 cm/6 x 4.5") (Note 1)
- 1 cup mozarella cheese , shredded
- 1 tbsp olive oil (for drizzling later)
Filling
- 500g / 1 lb frozen spinach (pre chopped) , thawed and excess water squeezed out (Note 2)
- 500 g / 1 lb ricotta cheese (NOT smooth, whipped or spreadable in tubs, Note 3)
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese , shredded
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese , shredded
- 1 garlic clove , pressed using garlic crusher or finely grated
- 1/4 fresh nutmeg , grated (or 1/8 tsp nutmeg powder)
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp Black pepper
Tomato Sauce
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic , minced
- 1/2 onion , finely diced (brown, yellow, white)
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 700 g / 24 oz tomato passata (US: Tomato puree) (Note 5)
- 1 1/2 cups water
- Handful basil leaves (optional)
Instructions
Tomato Sauce:
- Heat oil in a 25cm/10" ovenproof skillet over medium high heat. (Note 6)
- Add garlic and sauté for 10 seconds then add onion.
- Cook onion until translucent and starting to turn golden, then passata, water, chilli flakes (if using), salt and pepper.
- Simmer for 5 minutes on medium low, then stir through basil. Should be quite thin - the lasagna sheets will absorb water while in the oven so sauce thickens alot in oven.
- Scoop out 1 cup of the Tomato Sauce which will be used to drizzle over the dish at the end. Keep sauce warm.
Filling & Assembling:
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350CF (all oven types)
- Place Filling ingredients in a bowl. Mix well with wooden spoon.
- As per the photo & video, lay out the lasagne sheet with the shorter end in front of you.
- Place 1/3 cup (packed) of filling onto the lasagne sheet. Dab some water on the end furthest away from you (to seal the roll), then roll up starting from the end closest to you. Finish with the seal down.
- Cut rolls into 3 (so each piece is 3.5cm/1.5" wide). Place the rolls into the tomato sauce with the filling facing up.
- Repeat with remaining lasagna sheets until all the Filling is used up.
- Drizzle the reserved Tomato Sauce over (don't cover completely, leave some exposed).
- Cover loosely with foil, bake 30 minutes.
- Remove from oven, remove foil. Drizzle with oil, top with mozzarella.
- Bake 15 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and golden and you've got some crunchy golden bits on the edges. Serve!
Recipe Notes:
- need to be fresh sheets from the fridge section so they can be rolled up
- standard 375g/ 12oz packs from Australian grocery store is more than you need - you'll have about 1/3 leftover (freeze and use in beef, chicken or vegetable lasagna)
- dried sheets - boil them per packet, drain then use.
- size - don't worry if your lasagne sheets are not exactly the same size (they come in all different sizes). They can be any size as long as they can be cut to size so they are long enough to roll up, then can be cut into 3.5 - 4 cm / 1.5" little logs.
- Paesanella brand is my favourite (vac packed baskets at Harris and delis);
- Don't use spreadable / whipped or smooth ricotta, these are for spreading on things so they are fluffier and creamier;
- 🇦🇺 Australia, do NOT get Perfect Italiano in tubs from the fridge section! It is offensively bad - powdery and terrible;
- 250g/8oz cream cheese softened +250g/8oz cottage cheese*
- Greekish spin - 250g/8oz cream cheese softened + 150g/5oz feta (preferably Danish, the creamier rather than crumbly feta, if you can find it) + 100g/3oz cottage cheese* (or more feta)
Nutrition Information:
Originally published June 2014. Years overdue for a VIDEO to be added!
Life of Dozer
I’m sure you’d have a very different reaction if that were me and that bottle were real. 😂
Good morning Nagi, I would like to make this today and serve tomorrow. Do I still need to do the extra steps and freeze for just one night?
Thanks,
Patti
Yummy. I have now made it twice. Definitely a keeper.
I have made many of your recipes and all have been great. Thank you.
I have used a few of your recipes. The instructions are foolproof (I am living testimony to that claim).
The layout of the pages are superb and the images are positively food pornography.😉.
Thank you for clearly spending hours, days and weeks getting it right.
Regards from sunny Spain
You’re so welcome Stewart, thanks so much for the feedback – I truly appreciate it! N x
I followed the recipe on this evening as our sunday dinner, and wife was completely blown away with happiness! Quite easy to make, very tasty, good filling in the rolls, and really satisfying rustic food as a whole. Even the picky 8-year-old girl ate a few. Great rating there! 🙂
Excellent!
Unsure if I will make traditional lasagna again. This form factor is superior, and has crispy bits! : )
YES!!! The best bits in my opinion 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi! Am getting ready to make this recipe and have no ricotta so was going to use 250g of cottage cheese instead, but just noticed your notes say “250g/8oz cream cheese softened +250g/8oz cottage cheese*”. So does that mean I need to a combo of 250g cream cheese and cottage cheese? Thanks!
Hi Caroline, yes that’s 250g of both – the reason is that cottage cheese hold much more water, so once you squeeze it out, you’re left with a significantly lees in weight. N x
Thanks, Nagi! I ended up forgetting to squeeze the cottage cheese and slightly underboiled the dried lasagna sheets i used, but it still came out nice, and the leftovers were even better after microwaved as the lasagna softened even more! Will definitely make it again! 🙂
Delicious. Very similar to a recipe we used to serve at a restaurant I worked in over 30 years ago. Hadn’t seen it since.
I made half with meat filling made almost as per Nagi’s cannelloni recipe. Used 1/2 lean beef 1/2 pork. The other half using the Danish Feta substitute (no egg).
Good ricotta is too hard to get in our tiny town.
This was delicious. Mr C made this for dinner tonight. Master C devoured the plate and wants a serving for his school lunch tomorrow. We have enough left overs for another meal. This will definitely be one we make again.
Your recipes are a life saver, specially for someone with a busy schedule. Thank you so much.
Hi Nagi, I made this for my family served with a nice green salad.. I blinked and it was devoured.. From the mouth of my apprentice chef of when he tasted it ‘Boom Boom!!’ Great compliment there. We made this after making your caramel slice, white choccy & mac Byron Bay cookies & lentil curry..
A Nagi Saturday!! 🥣🍲🥮🥗
Hi Nagi
I don’t eat egg is there an substitute for that.
Hi Urvashi,
I am Italian and this recipe is spot on and authentic as all of Nagi’s recipes are.
The ricotta filling can be made without egg. The egg is used as a coagulant or to make the filling firm so your rotolo will be a little bit harder to remove from the tray once cooked because it will be softer. It’s always a good idea to allow the hot pasta dish to rest for about 15 minutes once cooked and this also allows for the ingredients to become a little bit firm.
Fresh pasta sheets typically contain egg as well but they can be replaced by dried pasta sheets which are eggless or crepes that can be made without egg. There are many online recipes for eggless crepes. If you do not use egg, it may be easier to lay the rotoli in a single layer as opposed to putting them upright in the tray, so that the ricotta doesn’t slide out. It’s a good idea to use a ricotta that has been allowed to drain a little as well so that the firmer it is, the less likely it is to slide out of the pasta. The paremsan and mozzarella help with making the filling firm.
Also, as someone who was raised in Haberfield, home to the Paesanella shop front, I can confirm hands down that all of the advice in point three regarding ricotta is a million percent accurate.
I do not write as eloquently as Nagi and Nagi will probably provide better options but this is what works in my Italian household.
Emm – I’d say you nailed it 🙂 N x (PS How lucky are YOU raised in Haberfield!!! Easy access to the best Italian produce in Sydney 🙂 )
As usual this is a winner Nagi! Terrific flavors, We had to figure out our pasta sheet dimensions compared to yours but that just makes us better chefs, right? Will definitely make this again. Love you Nagi! And Dozer of course!