GREEN CANNELLONI WITH WHITE BEANS AND ZUCCHINI

  Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes
  Difficulty: moderate
  Serves: 6

  INGREDIENTS

• 60 g  fresh spinach

• 150 g semolina flour

• 150 g flour

• 60 g spinach

• 2 eggs

• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus extra as needed

• 500 g canned butter beans

• 300 g zucchini, coarsely grated

• 150 g soft mild cheese (like the Italian stracchino)

• 2 shallots, peeled and chopped

• 1 garlic clove

• 1 sprig, or about a tablespoon chopped parsley

• about 4 heaped tablespoons grated grana or parmesan cheese

• 2 tablespoons butter

• extra virgin olive oil

• salt

• pepper

METHOD

Blanch the spinach in boiling salted water for 2-3 minutes; drain, reserving the cooking water. Puree with 50 ml of the cooking water; set aside a moment.

Mix the semolina flour with the flour, 1 egg, the reserved pureed spinach, a pinch of salt and a tablespoon of oil; only if necessary, add a drop of water until you get a smooth mixture. Mix until it forms a smooth dough, then wrap in plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Puree the beans; for a smoother consistency pass them through a sieve. Set aside.

Sauté the the grated courgettes in the olive oil in a frying pan over high heat with 1 shallot. After 3-4 minutes, add the parsley and garlic, cook a minute longer then turn off the heat.

Combine the courgettes with the pureed beans, the remaining egg, the grated  grana padano or Parmesan cheese, season with salt and pepper. (This will be the filling for the cannelloni).

Roll out the dough into thin sheets and cut them into 18 squares of 10 cm on each side. Blanch them, one at a time, in boiling water for about half a minute; remove to cool water, let each sheet sit for a minute or two, then drain.  Arrange each noodle square on a cloth.

Sprinkle with grated grana or parmesan, and stuff  by piping a line of filling (with a pastry bag) along one side, then roll up the squares to form cannelloni.

Lightly sauté the remaining shallot in a saucepan with the butter until softened, then add the stracchino cheese and 2 tablespoons of grana or parmesan and let it melt for 1-2 minutes to form the sauce. Remove from the heat.

Pour a little sauce on the bottom of a baking dish, arrange the cannelloni, cover them with the remaining sauce, sprinkle with more grana or parmesan cheese and bake at 190°C for 15 minutes.