Zephyr courgette rotolo with chard & ricotta
This beautiful summer dish is time consuming to prepare, but really has the wow factor if you want to impress guests at a summer dinner party. Rotolo is traditionally made with pasta rolls, but here we use strips of vibrant zephyr courgettes stuffed with chard and creamy ricotta for a lighter, low carb version. We’ve finished it off with a punchy gremolata – a mix of fresh parsley, garlic and lemon zest.
Cook's notes
This dish can be made in advance then heated up before serving. The chard can be swapped for spinach.
Ingredients
- Oil, for frying
- 4 garlic cloves, 3 peeled & sliced, 1 peeled & grated
- 1 tsp ground fennel seeds
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 500ml passata
- 2 tbsp tomato purée
- 3 zephyr courgettes
- 300g chard
- 750g ricotta
- 20g fresh parsley
- 10g fresh oregano
- zest of 1 lemon
Method
-
Step 1
Heat a little oil in an ovenproof frying pan and gently fry the sliced garlic until softened. Add the ground fennel seeds, dried oregano, passata and tomato purée and cook on a medium heat for 10 minutes until slightly reduced. Turn off the heat set aside.
-
Step 2
Meanwhile, using a mandolin or peeler, slice the courgettes lengthways into thin ribbons. Lay each ribbon flat on a clean tea towel as you go. Sprinkle generously with salt to draw out the moisture. After 20 minutes, remove the excess salt and liquid by patting dry.
-
Step 3
Blanche the chard in a pan of salted boiling water for a few minutes, then transfer to a bowl of cold water to cool down and stop further cooking. Drain well, then squeeze and press the chard to remove as much water as you can. Finely chop then mix thoroughly with the ricotta and a pinch of salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 180°C/Gas mark 4.
-
Step 4
Now you’re ready to make the rolls. Take a ribbon of courgette and spoon a heaped teaspoon of the ricotta and chard mixture onto it. Gently spread the mixture along most of the length of the ribbon. Take one end with your fingers and gently roll it into a spiral; don’t put too much mix in as you will want the rolls to be relatively tight. Arrange concentrically in the pan with the tomato sauce in, starting from the outside and working your way into the middle, placing the courgette rolls spiral side up.
-
Step 5
Bake for 15 minutes or so, until the ricotta has browned slightly.
-
Step 6
While you wait, make the gremolata by finely chopping the fresh herbs and mixing with the grated garlic and lemon zest.
-
Step 7
Once cooked, sprinkle the gremolata over the top and serve in the pan.