Spinach And Ricotta Rotolo Italian Lasagna Roll Ups

Spinach and Ricotta Rotolo

I’m going to call it – this will be the best new thing you’ve made all year. The rich 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 be to pick off all the crunchy bits before it gets to the table? 😂

What is Rotolo?

Rotolo is a traditional Italian dish that’s not widely known outside of Italy. The literal translation of “rotolo” is “scroll” or “coil”. The authentic way of making rotolo involves a very large fresh pasta sheet that is spread with a filling then rolled up to form a roulade. It’s quite technical and fussy because you then need to wrap the roulade in a tea towel and poach it, then slice it to serve with a sauce. For day to day cooking, I shelved this as a “too hard” recipe. But then I came across this baked version made by Jamie Oliver. The way he made it, it was basically cannelloni made with fresh lasagna sheets which is sliced then placed into the tomato sauce and baked. It’s not purely authentic, but for ordinary people like me, it is much more practical. And so darn tasty! Those brown bits….those crunchy brown bits. They make this dish! Basically, if you love Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni (or this pasta bake or lasagna, for that matter!) then you’re going to be mad over this Rotolo. Guaranteed.

Spinach Ricotta Rotolo Rilling

Rotolo comes with all sorts of stuffing options. Jamie Oliver’s recipe is made with squash and spinach, it’s also made with meat, and Spinach & Ricotta is a popular option which is what I’ve gone with. Here’s what you need for the filling:

PS Let’s pretend I didn’t forget to put LASAGNA SHEETS in the above photo! Fresh best, but if you can only get dried, just boil to cook then use per recipe. Use the filling from this Spinach & Beef Cannelloni – scale up by 50% (ie use 750g/1.5lb beef, or use extra spinach), cool (will thicken) then roll!

Spinach Ricotta Rotolo Sauce

And here’s what you need for the sauce:

Tomato Passata is key for this sauce. Because it’s pureed tomato, it’s the ideal consistency to make a smooth tomato sauce for the Rotolo with just 5 minutes simmering. Using canned tomato would require at least 30 minutes simmering for the chunks to break down enough to make the desired consistency for the sauce.

How to make Baked Rotolo

And here’s how it’s made:

Make the sauce first; Mix filling, roll up, cut into thirds; Place in sauce, bake!

The smells coming out of your oven while it’s baking are pretty darn good. But that moment when you pull it out of the oven and you stare at what you’ve just made, mesmerised by how magnificent it looks…. it’s worth making, just to see THIS in real life:

They’re quite sturdy little things, so you don’t need to dig in with a delicate touch. They hold together well (the lasagna sheets adhere as they cook) and they hold their form pretty well as you scoop them up. See? (And just WAIT until you see the video!)

Truthfully though, some will flop and sag, and fall on their side, and you probably will rip the side off some of the them as you scoop into the pan to plate them up. And that’s completely on theme. There’s nothing elegant about this Spinach and Ricotta Rotolo. It’s rustic. The best sort of food – relaxed deliciousness!

Being that there’s a couple of bunches of spinach in this (ahem, in the form of frozen spinach!) and a big bottle of tomato passata, there’s actually a decent amount of vegetables in this dish. So I usually serve it just as is without any sides for a casual midweek meal. But a fresh side salad would certainly elevate the meal – this Rocket Salad with Parmesan Shavings is very on theme (classic Italian) – and I am pretty sure nobody would say no to a side of Garlic Bread. Now, go forth and impress the pants off your family and friends! – Nagi x