Elevate your cooking skills with this dish

One-tray Silverbeet, Ricotta & Pumpkin Rotolo

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Hey team, hope you are all well! As the weather cools here in Australia, one-tray baked meals like this become more frequent. However this dish is just as suited to mild spring or even a summers long lunch. I encourage you to master this recipe and have up your sleeve for all occasions. Definitely one to have in the arsenal on your way to becoming an epic home cook!

This is a baked version of Rotolo which is a lessor known Italian pasta dish where a filling is rolled up in pasta sheets like a roulade. Traditionally it would be poached, sliced and served. This version slices and bakes it in a delicious passata. I use a good quality store bought passata to save time as there is a little more time in making the rotolo itself. By taking away making something like a passata, which you can get good ones, means it becomes an achievable dish for a weeknight, special occasion or lazy weekend lunch. You can of course make your own passata if you have more time or already have some made up. Either way, this is so tasty and loved by the whole family so that’s the biggest win! Leftovers are amazing as well and reheat well so its always a good idea to make extra and enjoy it throughout the week for an easy meal. I’d serve this with a nice simple salad - some rocket, shaved fennel, thinly sliced red onion and extra shaved parmesan if you are inclined. Dress with a red wine or balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. I like to make the my dressing ratios 1 to 2 or 1 to 3 (vinegar to oil) so they are a little sharper.

Can I freeze? - you sure can. This reheats really well from cooked and frozen. I would reheat in a 200C, covered, for approx. 40 minutes

Vegan/Gluten free - If you want to make this vegan, you can find a suitable vegan ricotta substitute and substitute the parmesan for nutritional yeast. Otherwise leaving the ricotta out still makes for a delicious version. I have added a 400g tin of cooked butterbeans, crushed with a fork, then fold that through the cooked silverbeet in place of the ricotta. Really yum. For gluten free, there are some good quality gluten-free pasta sheets out there

Other filling options are endless. Rotolo doesn’t have to be vegetarian, think of it like a lasagne of sorts. You can roll up a thick, cooled beef bolognese or a thick mushroom ragu or a mix of garlicky sautéed mushrooms folded through the ricotta in place of the silverbeet or in addition with it would be amazing. Once you master this recipe, start to think about other delicious combinations and have fun with it.

Ricotta can be swapped out for cottage cheese for delicious results and you could also scatter over some torn mozzarella when baking.

Pumpkin - you can leave this off the recipe and double the silvebeet and ricotta. Sweet potato would also be delicious.

Silverbeet - any leafy green works well or a combination of greens. Cavolo Nero, kale, baby spinach or even frozen spinach (thaw and squeeze out first then add to the sautéed onion and carry on with the recipe)

Fresh pasta sheets - you can use dried pasta sheets. Simply cook them in lightly salted boiling water according to packet instruction (approx. 8 minutes). Drain refresh, dry and continue with the recipe.

Prep / Cook Time - 1 hr 15 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients