Even if I’m not a big fan of Italian cuisine, I have to admit that there are some types of pasta that I enjoy eating, and those around me enjoy it even more ;).
In order to keep a nutritionally beneficial combination, I preferred not to mix pasta with meat, so I prepared this wonderful pasta with the following ingredients:
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1 kg. spinach (I found fresh, but it can also be used frozen);
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400 gr. of urda (I bought from the Sibieni shops);
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150 gr. of fresh cow telemea (also from Sibieni shops);
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150 gr. non-smoked cheese (from Sibieni shops);
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400 ml. fresh cream (from Sibieni shops)
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50 gr. Parmesan;
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a bunch of green onions;
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a small head of Romanian garlic;
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a few leaves of green basil;
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15 cannelloni tubes (I bought these from the supermarket);
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salt and pepper.
I washed and cleaned the spinach, scalded it boiling water and drained it. Then I put it in the blender together with the urda, telemeaua, part of the sour cream (about 4-5 spoons), half of the garlic, the onion and the basil and I mixed them all until they became a consistent cream. I added salt and pepper.
Because I thought that the pasta would not be penetrated enough if I just put it in the oven, I complicated myself a bit and boiled part of it, and even though I only left it in the boiling water for a few minutes , it was much harder for me to fill them afterwards because they were softer. I didn’t boil the rest of the pasta, but simply filled it with the above filling (it was an experiment, to see which ones turn out better ;)). If you try the recipe at home and choose to use the pasta as it is, it is good that after filling it, moisten it a little with water (you can try with a brush or a napkin) because otherwise cracks may appear through some places.
Out of the 15 tubes, 13 remained because 2 of the boiled ones broke in my desperate attempt to fill them, so I also had some filling left, which I used together with the rest of the cream, the remaining garlic, 2 basil leaves, salt and pepper for maglavais.
I heated the oven to 180 degrees Celsius, lined a tray with parchment paper which I greased a little with olive oil, arranged the tubules in the tray, poured the cream maglavais and grated the cheese on top. I put everything in the oven for 40 minutes, then, to make it perfect, I grated a little Parmesan cheese on top…you don’t want to know how the cheese spreads so much when it’s still hot ;).
As a conclusion, the dish turned out delicious, I didn’t even realize which tubules were pre-boiled and which were not, so if you try it at home, don’t bother boiling the tubules before, it’s just a waste of time, now I know too :).
