vegan cannelloni

When I first "went vegan" I created a Pinterest board with a ridiculous number of recipes. One of the was for an eggplant parmesan sub- which I did try, and it was ok. What I did like about it was the sauce, well, two sauces to be exact. A marinara sauce and an eggplant "cheese" sauce. Both gave me the inspiration to create my own take on spinach and ricotta cannelloni, but without the ricotta, of course!

My boyfriend's family is Italian, and so pasta of any kind is very important to master. I've tried making a lasagne with the same sauces, but it was a bit dry and I like my lasagne so saucy that it pretty much falls over when you put it on the plate- I don't want it perfectly stacked like you see in restaurants. You could try this cannelloni with tofu, I did when I first made it, but have since swapped it out for mushrooms. If you wanted to use tofu for the protein and iron etc, just crumble it into the spinach mixture.

Ingredients:

Marinara sauce-

2 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/4 tsp chili flakes (or to taste)
1 x can diced tomatoes
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp dried oregano
1 Tbsp coconut sugar (or brown sugar, other sweetener)
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1/4 C basil leaves, finely chopped ( I don't use basil because I'm not a huge fan, but the original recipe does call for it if you prefer)

Eggplant "cheese" sauce-

1 medium to large eggplant
1 tbsp olive oil
3/4 cup plant-milk (I used almond and coconut blend)
1 tsp egg replacer powder (but you can use any thickener- potato starch, tapioca flour)
4 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp ground pepper

Other:

About 10 good sized white mushrooms
12 small cannelloni tubes- though my mixture made 13 with some to spare so if you have a bigger dish then you can probably fill about 15 small tubes
Packet of frozen spinach

I start by making the eggplant sauce so that while I'm stuffing the cannelloni tubes the marinara can simmer and it saves time.

Method:

1.Peel and cut the eggplant into cubes and cook in a saucepan with oil over medium heat until tender. I like to be able to break it down with my spoon- the softer you get it now, the smoother your sauce will be. Set aside to cool

2.Prepare the frozen spinach according to the instructions. Don't be afraid to use frozen spinach, it's cheap, easy and you can always have some on hand!

3.Process the mushrooms in a food processor or chop finely and cook in oil adding drained spinach and just warming through- it will all get cooked in the oven anyway

4.To make the eggplant sauce, add the cooked and cooled eggplant to a high-speed blender (I have a nutri-ninja) and add all the "cheese" sauce ingredients. Blend until smooth.

5.Pour half to 2/3 of the sauce into the pan with the mushrooms and spinach and mix through

This is when I make the marinara sauce- I just use the same pan I used for the eggplant to save washing up!

6.Add oil, garlic and chilli flakes to pan and cook for two minutes until fragrant

7.Add all of the other marinara sauce ingredients, bring to boil and then simmer, covered, for 15 minutes

8.To stuff the tubes, I put the mushroom mixture into a Ziploc bag and snip the end off- I used to do it with a spoon which to forever I'm glad I thought of this- a piping bag or similar would also work. Pipe the mixture into the tubes

9.Smooth a little of the eggplant sauce onto the bottom of your roasting dish

10.Line the tubes up in the dish and smother with the marinara sauce

11.Top the dish with any remaining eggplant sauce

12.Bake according to cannelloni instructions, mine says 190C for 30 minutes

We serve it with crusty bread and olives in true Italian style!