Scrambled Eggs, Cheese, and Avocado Tortilla Bowl Recipe
September 16, 2025
Spinach and Ricotta Rotolo (Italian Lasagna Roll Ups) Recipe
Baked Spinach and Ricotta Rotolo is like Lasagna Rolls Ups and Cannelloni – however BETTER as a result of it’s received brown crunchy bits. And crunchy bits are all the time the most effective!
Spinach and Ricotta Rotolo
I’m going to name it – this would be the finest new factor you’ve made all 12 months. The wealthy 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 not be to select off all of the crunchy bits earlier than it will get to the desk? 😂
What’s Rotolo?
Rotolo is a standard Italian dish that’s not broadly recognized exterior of Italy. The literal translation of “rotolo” is “scroll” or “coil”.
The genuine method of creating rotolo entails a really giant recent pasta sheet that’s unfold with a filling then rolled as much as type a roulade. It’s fairly technical and fussy since you then must wrap the roulade in a tea towel and poach it, then slice it to serve with a sauce.
For each day cooking, I shelved this as a “too arduous” recipe. However then I got here throughout this baked model made by Jamie Oliver. The way in which he made it, it was mainly cannelloni made with recent lasagna sheets which is sliced then positioned into the tomato sauce and baked.
It’s not purely genuine, however for strange folks like me, it’s far more sensible. And so darn tasty! These brown bits….these crunchy brown bits. They make this dish!
Principally, when you love Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni (or this pasta bake or lasagna, for that matter!) then you definitely’re going to be mad over this Rotolo. Assured.
Spinach Ricotta Rotolo Rilling
Rotolo comes with all types of stuffing choices. Jamie Oliver’s recipe is made with squash and spinach, it’s additionally made with meat, and Spinach & Ricotta is a well-liked choice which is what I’ve gone with.
Right here’s what you want for the filling:
PS Let’s fake I didn’t neglect to place LASAGNA SHEETS within the above picture! Recent finest, however when you can solely get dried, simply boil to prepare dinner then use per recipe.
Need a meat filling?
Use the filling from this Spinach & Beef Cannelloni – scale up by 50% (ie use 750g/1.5lb beef, or use further spinach), cool (will thicken) then roll!
Spinach Ricotta Rotolo Sauce
And right here’s what you want for the sauce:
Tomato Passata is essential for this sauce. As a result of it’s pureed tomato, it’s the best consistency to make a easy tomato sauce for the Rotolo with simply 5 minutes simmering. Utilizing canned tomato would require not less than half-hour simmering for the chunks to interrupt down sufficient to make the specified consistency for the sauce.
The right way to make Baked Rotolo
And right here’s the way it’s made:
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Make the sauce first;
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Combine filling, roll up, reduce into thirds;
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Place in sauce, bake!
The smells popping out of your oven whereas it’s baking are fairly darn good.
However that second whenever you pull it out of the oven and also you stare at what you’ve simply made, mesmerised by how magnificent it seems…. it’s price making, simply to see THIS in actual life:
In truth although, some will flop and sag, and fall on their facet, and also you most likely will rip the facet off a few of the them as you scoop into the pan to plate them up.
And that’s fully on theme. There’s nothing elegant about this Spinach and Ricotta Rotolo. It’s rustic. One of the best form of meals – relaxed deliciousness!
Being that there’s a few bunches of spinach on this (ahem, within the type of frozen spinach!) and a giant bottle of tomato passata, there’s really an honest quantity of greens on this dish. So I often serve it simply as is with none sides for an informal midweek meal.
However a recent facet salad would definitely elevate the meal – this Rocket Salad with Parmesan Shavings could be very on theme (traditional Italian) – and I’m fairly certain no one would say no to a facet of Garlic Bread.
Now, go forth and impress the pants off your loved ones and associates! – Johnsat x
Watch learn how to make it
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)
- 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
- 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
- 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.
- 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!
Notes
1. Lasagna sheets
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.
2. Spinach – thaw then grab handfuls and squeeze out excess water, or press through colander like I do in video.
To use fresh, you’ll need 3 bunches of English spinach – chop off stems, wash throughly, blanch until wilted then finely chop, squeeze out excess liquid and use per recipe (you need 1.5 cups packed, after water squeezed out).
3. Ricotta:
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;
Can’t get good ricotta? Use one of these:
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)
* Remove excess water from cottage cheese: tip out into paper towel lined colander for 15 minutes.
5. Passata is pureed tomato, thinner than tomato paste and smoother than crushed tomatoes. Sometimes labelled “tomato puree” in the US.
You can substitute with crushed tomatoes but you will need to add and extra 1 cup of water and simmer for 20 minutes so the tomato breaks down more.
6. Cooking vessel – if you don’t have the right size oven proof skillet, just make the sauce in any frypan then transfer into a baking dish. One way to figure out the right size is to make all the roll ups, stand them upright on a plate then you’ll know how big a baking dish you need.
7. To make ahead, this is best frozen before baking. Cool the tomato sauce, then stir in an extra 3/4 cup water (the lasagna sheets hydrate even when not in oven, if you don’t do this, you end up with thick tomato sauce once cooked).
Assemble the dish but do not put the cheese on, freeze in an airtight container, then defrost completely. Bake 40 minutes covered (takes longer fridge cold) then top with cheese and bake 15 min per recipe.
If you freeze it after baking it: defrost completely then sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of water (most of it over the pasta sauce) per 6 pieces of rotolo before reheating. If you reheat it in the microwave, stick it under the grill/broiler for a few minutes (after reheating it) to make the top crunchy again, and I also recommend adding some fresh cheese, just to freshen the dish up. To reheat it in the oven, reheat at 180C/300F (covered with foil) until just warmed through ~ 15 nin. Then remove the cover, scatter over some fresh cheese then return to oven until the top is crunchy, the cheese melted and the rotolo is heated through.
8. Nutrition per serving.
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