Spinach & Ricotta Cannelloni

This was my first attempt at Cannelloni, and I was really happy with the result.  As I was looking for this recipe, I found there are so many varieties, which include ingredients like pumpkin, sweet potato, chicken, corn and many more - I think I'll definitely have to make it again!  This one was from taste.com.au, but I made a couple of small changes.


Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• 1 bunch spinach or 250g frozen spinach, thawed
• 1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 30g butter
• 250g mushrooms, chopped
• 250g fresh ricotta
• 65g parmesan, grated
• 250g dried cannelloni
• 400g can diced tomatoes
• 400g jar tomato passata

Method

• Preheat oven to 180°C.  Heat half the oil in a pan over medium heat. Add onion and cook for 1 minute. Add spinach, thyme and half the garlic and cook until the spinach has wilted. Remove from the pan and set aside.
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• Melt butter and remaining oil in the pan. Add remaining garlic and button mushrooms. Cook for 1 minute.
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• Place spinach and mushroom mixtures in a food processor and process to combine, then transfer to a large bowl. Add ricotta and 40g of parmesan and season well.
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• Fill cannelloni with ricotta mixture (the easiest way to do this is with a piping bag - I used my Tupperware "Squeeze It" and it worked very well), then place in a greased ovenproof dish.
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• Combine the diced tomatoes with tomato passata. Season well and pour over cannelloni. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, sprinkle with remaining parmesan and bake for a further 10 minutes.