Cannelloni filled with Broccoli and Ricotta

These broccoli and ricotta cannoli are just the thing to fill you on a cold autumn night and as that's what we're going to have in the next few weeks, you'd better get cooking straight away. They also freeze well so you can make them up to the pre-bake stage and freeze until you want them.

What you need to make these for 4 people:

12 sheets of lasagne pasta. You can use fresh of dried.

1 large head of broccoli

250g ricotta

100g freshly grated parmesan

salt. pepper

1 egg

fresh breadcrumbs if needed

I tin of tomatoes

1 medium onion

1 clove of garlic

Hot chicken stock

1/2 pt of white sauce

What you do:

Steam the broccoli until tender and then mash roughly.

Add the egg, ricotta, parmesan, salt and pepper and enough bread crumbs to make a soft mixture. You don't want it to be sloppy as you will have to roll it in the pasta.

Now make the tomato sauce, by frying the onion and garlic in a little oil until lightly golden brown. Add the tomatoes and and about half a tin of hot stock. Simmer gently for about an hour until the sauce is reduced, season to taste.

Cook the lasagne sheets until soft enough to roll. Drain and lie them out on the work surface.

Divide the filling equally between the pasta sheets and then roll up. Make sure than the fold is under the cannelloni so that they do not open while cooking.

In a large roasting pan or baking pan that will hold the cannelloni in one layer add about 2 large spoons of tomato sauce. The tomato sauce should not be too thick. Place cannelloni side by side in the pan leaving a tiny space between each cannelloni. Cover with additional tomato sauce and the white sauce.

Sprinkle the parmesan cheese over top. Bake the cannelloni for about 1 hour.