Swiss Chard and Ricotta Rolled into Cannelloni with Sage Butter
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Swiss chard is the workhorse of the summer garden — cut it at the base and it sends up new leaves within days, feeding you from June until the first frost. Its stems glow crimson, gold, and white while the leaves stay glossy and mineral-rich. This recipe uses the whole plant: stems folded into the filling for texture, leaves wilted for depth. Rolled fresh pasta sheets around it and a brown-sage butter make a dish worth heating the oven for even in July.
1 large bunch (500g) Swiss chard, leaves and stems separated
1¼ cups (300g) ricotta, well drained
¾ cup (75g) grated Parmesan or aged pecorino, divided
1 large egg
Freshly grated nutmeg, about ¼ tsp
8 fresh lasagne sheets (250g), or dried, softened
6 tbsp (85g) unsalted butter
12 fresh sage leaves
1½ cups (360ml) passata or crushed tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
Sea salt and black pepper
The Recipe
Separate the chard leaves from the stems and dice the stems finely — they take longer to soften, so cook them first over medium heat in a splash of oil for 6 minutes until they lose their raw snap and turn translucent at the edges. Skipping this leaves crunchy fibres in your filling.
Add the roughly chopped leaves to the same pan with a pinch of salt and wilt for 3 minutes until they collapse to a quarter of their volume and release their liquid. Tip everything into a sieve and press hard with the back of a spoon — a wet filling will burst the pasta and dilute the sauce. Do not skip this step.
Chop the drained chard finely and combine with the ricotta, half the Parmesan, the egg and nutmeg. Season firmly with salt and pepper — ricotta is bland and needs more salt than you expect, so taste and adjust before rolling.
Warm the passata with the sliced garlic and a pinch of salt over low heat for 8 minutes until it thickens slightly and smells sweet rather than sharp. Spread it across the base of a baking dish so the cannelloni sit on a cushion that keeps them from drying out.
Lay each pasta sheet flat, spoon a line of filling along one edge, and roll firmly but not so tight that it splits. Nestle the rolls seam-side down in the sauce so they hold their shape as they bake. Scatter the remaining Parmesan over the top.
Cover with foil and bake at 190°C (375°F) for 25 minutes, then remove the foil for a final 5 minutes until the cheese turns golden and the sauce bubbles at the edges — the foil traps steam early so the pasta cooks through before the top browns.
While it bakes, make the sage butter: melt the butter in a small pan over medium heat until it foams, then keeps cooking until the milk solids turn hazelnut-brown and it smells nutty, about 4 minutes. Drop in the sage leaves for the last 30 seconds — they crisp and perfume the fat. Pull off the heat the moment the butter turns amber; it goes from brown to burnt in seconds.
Spoon the sage butter over the baked cannelloni just before serving so the leaves stay crisp and the butter glosses each roll.
