Anne Morgan Try Delia Smith’s pancake cannelloni recipe, a vegetarian bake of thick pancakes filled with spinach and ricotta, for 4 to 6 people. You add Gorgonzola and Parmesan to the filling, then bake the rolls under a creamy white sauce and mozzarella. The whole recipe takes about 1¾ hours, and the bake itself needs 25 to 30 minutes.
Delia thinks pancakes make better, lighter cannelloni than pasta. She first printed this vegetarian version in her Winter Collection (1995), then again in her Vegetarian Collection (2002), and her website follows the 2002 recipe.
The pancakes are her basic pancakes, just without the sugar and lemon. Four Italian cheeses go in, and she calls them “four star”.
Delia Smith’s Pancake Cannelloni
Course: DinnerCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Medium4-6
servings45
minutes1
hour640
kcalThick pancakes rolled round spinach, ricotta, Gorgonzola and Parmesan, baked under a white sauce and melted mozzarella.
Ingredients
- For the pancakes:
110g plain flour
pinch of salt
2 large eggs
200ml milk, mixed with 75ml water
50g butter, melted
- For the sauce:
570ml milk
50g butter
30g plain flour
1 bay leaf
a good grating of fresh nutmeg
65ml double cream
salt and freshly milled black pepper
- For the filling:
450g young leaf spinach
10g butter
150g ricotta
150g Gorgonzola or Cashel Blue, crumbled
60g Parmesan, grated
a little grated nutmeg
1 bunch spring onions, finely sliced, green parts too
freshly milled black pepper
- For the topping:
110g mozzarella, grated
40g Parmesan, grated
Directions
- Batter: Whisk the flour, salt, eggs, milk and water into a smooth batter. Stir in 2 tablespoons of the melted butter and keep the rest for the pan.
- Pancakes: Grease an 18cm (7in) frying pan with a little butter and get it hot. Cook the pancakes one at a time, using 2 tablespoons of batter for each, so they come out thicker than crêpes. Stack them between greaseproof paper. You should get 12 to 14.
- Oven: Heat the oven to 200°C, fan 180°C, gas mark 6. Butter a baking dish of 23 x 23 x 5cm (9 x 9 x 2in).
- Sauce: Put the milk, butter, flour and bay leaf in a saucepan. Bring it up to simmering point, whisking all the time, until the sauce thickens.
- Season: Add salt, pepper and a good grating of nutmeg. Let the sauce simmer on the lowest heat for 2 minutes, then take it off the heat. Lift out the bay leaf and stir in the cream.
- Spinach: Cook the spinach with the butter in a large pan for 1 to 2 minutes, tossing it until it wilts. Drain it in a colander and squeeze it hard to get rid of the juice.
- Filling: Chop the spinach roughly and mix it in a bowl with the ricotta, Gorgonzola, Parmesan and some nutmeg. Season with pepper but no salt, because the cheeses are salty. Then stir in the spring onions and 4 or 5 tablespoons of the sauce.
- Roll: Put a tablespoon of filling on each pancake, roll it up and tuck in the ends. Lay the rolls side by side in the dish.
- Top: Scatter the mozzarella over the rolls and pour the sauce over them. Then sprinkle the rest of the Parmesan on top.
- Bake: Bake on the highest shelf for 25 to 30 minutes, until the top is brown and the sauce bubbles.
Notes
- Her Winter Collection version uses 450g of ordinary raw spinach, Gorgonzola only and 60ml of cream. Everything else is the same.
FAQs
Can I make pancake cannelloni ahead?
Of course, in stages or all at once. Her website’s food editor says the pancakes keep for 3 days in the fridge, well wrapped, or 3 months in the freezer. The spinach filling keeps for a few days too.
You can also build the whole dish with its sauce and keep it covered in the fridge for a few days. Delia herself suggests making extra pancakes for the freezer, then using them in this dish.
How do I make it for 12, or as a starter?
For 12, double everything and use a much larger dish, so the rolls sit side by side in one layer. Her website says the oven stays at the same heat, and the bake needs about 5 to 10 minutes longer.
As a starter, Delia serves 2 pancakes per person in small heatproof gratin dishes. Then bake them for 20 minutes only.
Can I fill the pancakes with ragù?
You can, and Delia has two versions. Her Complete Cookery Course (1992) fills about 12 basic pancakes with her ragù with chicken livers, then bakes them with a white sauce and Parmesan. It serves 4 and takes 30 minutes at 200°C.
Her Winter Collection version comes from Umbria in Italy. It uses two 225g packs of ragù, and 75g of mozzarella goes over the rolls before the white sauce. Then Parmesan and a dessertspoon of olive oil go on top.
Is pancake cannelloni vegetarian?
Yes, if you choose the cheeses with care, and it comes from her Vegetarian Collection. Her website points out that vegetarians can buy a Parmesan-style hard cheese, and her book lets you use Cashel Blue in place of Gorgonzola.
My own tip is to read each cheese label for the word vegetarian. Then the whole dish can stay meat-free.
What other savoury pancakes does Delia make?
Her older cookery course has Spinach-Stuffed Pancakes with Cheese Sauce, for 4 people. In summer she swaps the frozen spinach for 900g of leaf spinach.
The same book also has Cheese Soufflé Pancakes, which she first ate in Italy.
