Wild Garlic, Spinach and Cannellini Cannelloni with Lemon-Almond Cream
‘I was really missing ricotta cannelloni having not eaten it for years. This is not exactly the same, but its an excellent alternative. I’ve made a load of it now and its in the freezer. 5 stars for versatility.’
Kerry B, Cumbria; Black Labrador Member
Table of Contents
- ✨ Before We Begin…
- The Cook’s Mind
- A Note on Origin
- Ingredient Focus: Spinach
- My Favourite Way To Eat
- Serving Suggestions
- Multi-Purpose Recipe
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- What Will You Learn Whilst Making This Recipe?
- Handpicked to Go With This One
- Waste Less: How To Use Up Your Ingredient Stash!
- Wild Garlic, Spinach & Cannellini Cannelloni with Lemon-Almond Cream Recipe
✨ Before We Begin…
This is not a dainty pasta bake. It’s bold, green and deeply satisfying — the kind of thing that feeds two people with just three tubes each and leaves them smiling. The lemon-almond cream morphs into something cheese-like at the edges, the wild garlic shines, and those cannelloni? Crisp, golden, and utterly unforgettable.
‘Must be best food offer, of any genre, in Kendal. Hugely accomplished cooking and very much recommended.’
Tony P, Kendal; Food Customer
The Cook’s Mind
This dish sings when you use the freshest greens you can find. Cannellini beans offer a creamy, nutty contrast to the bright lemon notes and the mellow allium hum of wild garlic. Homemade lemon-almond cream brings richness and bite — a dairy-free béchamel with a cheesiness in her step.
Make-Ahead
Prepare the filling and lemon-almond cream in advance. Assemble the cannelloni the night before, cover and chill, then bake straight from the fridge.
Freezer-Friendly
- Freeze fully assembled but unbaked for up to 1 month
- Defrost overnight in the fridge before baking
- Or freeze leftovers in individual portions — perfect for solo spring lunches
Rescue Mission – What To Do When Things Go Wrong
- The cannelloni tubes stick together when pre-soaking: use more, just throw them out and go for cooler water next time
- Sauce too thin? Reduce it possibly, but add more almonds
- If the filling feels dry: add a splash more water
Key Substitutions
Swap wild garlic for baby leeks or spring onions. Use chickpeas instead of cannellini for a slightly firmer texture. If almonds are off the table, are ground sunflowers on your menu?
Cooking Parlance
This is a bake. Not a rush. Let it bubble and golden gently — it’s about letting time do its quiet magic.
A Note on Origin
Drawn from Italian and English springtime traditions — this dish borrows the structure of a classic cannelloni but gently evolves it through fresh wild garlic, cannellini beans, and a lemon-almond cream sauce. It’s both familiar and unexpected: a springtime story told in green and gold.
Ingredient Focus: Spinach
The quiet powerhouse of spring greens — soft, mineral-rich, and always ready to disappear into something wonderful.
Spinach brings both freshness and depth. Choose baby leaves for tenderness, or blanched mature leaves for a more robust green. Wilt it quickly with garlic or wild herbs, and always give it a little salt — it likes to feel noticed.
✨ Green strength, soft-spoken — tender leaves that warm without fuss.
My Favourite Way To Eat
When I first sat down to eat what you see here, my head was full of cake — quite literally. But the first bite silenced everything. I stared at my plate in disbelief. How could something that looked so unassuming taste like this? A glass of Sauvignon Blanc would’ve paired beautifully, but since it was just Georgia and me, I didn’t bother opening a bottle. I sat at the kitchen table instead, with her stretched out nearby, and ate quietly. That’s the thing about good food — it doesn’t need ceremony. It turns the ordinary into something quietly extraordinary and beautiful.
Serving Suggestions
- A sharply dressed spring salad with shaved fennel and radish
- Pickled Kohlrabi
Multi-Purpose Recipe
This is a spring feast in a tray, but also a flexible weeknight winner.
- Turn the filling into a tart base or pie centre. It would work as a filling for Beautifully Special Little Puff Pastry Tarts
- Use the sauce with any stuffed pasta.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Light and creamy without relying on coconut or cashews
- Seasonal, sophisticated, and secretly simple to prepare
- A make-ahead showstopper that tastes like spring itself
What Will You Learn Whilst Making This Recipe?
- How to make a velvety almond-based lemon cream
- How to prepare and fill pasta without breakage
Handpicked to Go With This One
A few recipes that play well together — flavour friends, not just neighbours.
Waste Less: How To Use Up Your Ingredient Stash!
Got something spare – a handful, a spoonful, or the end of a packet? These tags help you find other ways to use it. It’s a small step toward cooking intuitively and wasting less❣️
Wild Garlic, Spinach & Cannellini Cannelloni with Lemon-Almond Cream Recipe
Wild Garlic, Spinach and Cannellini Cannelloni with Lemon-Almond Cream
A spring-bright plant-based bake with creamy lemon-almond sauce and tender pasta tubes filled with garlicky spinach and cannellini beans. It's quietly impressive and elegant, and perfect for brighter days.
Photographed truthfully. If you cook it, yours will look like mine.
Ingredients
Ingredients for the cannelloni stuffing
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 70 g brown onion | unpeeled weight; very finely diced
- 2 pinches salt
- 1 unit fresh garlic clove | peeled and finely grated
- 15 g wild garlic leaves | very finely shredded
- 130 g spinach | very finely shredded
- 235 g cannellini beans | cooked weight; rinsed and drained
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp white miso paste
- 1½ tbsp water
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
Ingredients for the Lemon-Almond Cream
- 20 g butter | unsalted
- 20 g plain flour
- 400 ml soya milk | unsweetened
- 1 tsp white miso paste
- 6 tbsp ground almonds
- 3 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp fresh lemon zest
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
Ingredients for the cannelloni
- 8 units cannelloni tubes | 3 per person, 2 spare in case of cracking
- 500 ml hot water
Other ingredients
- 200 g chopped tomatoes
Instructions
Make the cannelloni stuffing
- Heat the oil on a low heat and when it's warm, add the onion and salt. Stir and wilt the onion gently. Avoid any colour on the onion. As the onion begins to turn translucent, grate the garlic into the pan and stir to mix. Once that has wilted, add the wild garlic leaves and spinach. Wilt for a minute or two, and then take the pan off the heat.1 tbsp olive oil, 70 g brown onion, 2 pinches salt, 1 unit fresh garlic clove, 15 g wild garlic leaves, 130 g spinach
- Put the rinsed and drained cannellini beans into a blender and add the other ingredients listed. Let the processor run until the beans are very smooth. Periodically, use a spatula to push whatever is on the sides of the processor down, to ensure everything is processed properly.235 g cannellini beans, 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp white miso paste, ⅛ tsp salt, 1½ tbsp water
- Once the beans are creamed, add the fresh lemon juice. Then tip the purée into a mixing bowl and add the onion/spinach mix. Mix thoroughly. Chill (you're piping the mix, you want it cold and solid to work with).1 tsp fresh lemon juice
Make the Lemon-Almond Cream
- Make a blonde roux: melt the butter in a saucepan on a low and when it's melted and bubbling, add the flour. Use a spatula and press the flour into the melted butter. Keep stirring around, cooking the flour, for 2-3 minutes. It will change colour (go blonde), it will smell lovely and the texture will change (puff up a little and seem a little dryer).20 g butter, 20 g plain flour, 1 tsp white miso paste
- Make a béchamel: add the soya milk to the roux and whisk lightly to incorporate the liquid. Let it simmer for a few minutes.400 ml soya milk
- Add the ingredients listed and whisk to incorporate; simmer for a couple of minutes and take it off the heat.6 tbsp ground almonds, 3 tsp fresh lemon juice, ¼ tsp salt, ¼ tsp ground black pepper, 1 tsp fresh lemon zest
Prepare the cannelloni
- Add the cannelloni to some cold water, pour in the hot water and allow to sit in the water for 2 minutes, to soften. Move the cannelloni around to prevent sticking. Drain and then stand up in a container to drain. It's tempting to oil them to keep them separate but don't!8 units cannelloni tubes, 500 ml hot water
Fill the cannelloni
- Spoon the cold cannelloni mix into a piping bag having first checked that the nozzle is smaller than the cannelloni. Have a plate ready nearby to put the filled cannelloni onto. Squeeze the filling into the cannelloni, with your little finger over the end of the bottom of the tube so you can feel when the filling 'arrives'. When the pasta tubes are full, tidy up and check. I stood near the sink with the tap gently running so I could keep my fingers clean: I checked the ends were full, pushed filling in and tidied them. I rinsed some of the cannelloni to get them clean. I looked at them to check they were properly full.
Assemble the dish
- Preheat the oven to 180℃ fan (200℃ conventional).
- Spoon the tomatoes into the base of an ovenproof dish.200 g chopped tomatoes
- Place the filled cannelloni on top very slightly spaced apart so they can breathe. (avoid wedging them in; give them some elbow room). Spoon the rest of the tomatoes around the cannelloni nestling some along the lengths of the pasta tubes. You need this to look informal so it bubbles up informally. Add a couple of pinches of salt over the tomatoes and cannelloni.
- Spoon the Lemon-Almond Cream over the cannelloni. Part of the wonder of this dish is how the ends left 'blank' without sauce, get crispy and taste lovely.
- Place into the oven uncovered for 35 minutes. Check. You want it bubbling up and for the Lemon-Almond Cream to firming up and almost hardening. You want the edges just turning dark, threatening to burn. I left mine in for 40 minutes in total. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Grate over lemon zest, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and some more ground black pepper if that's your thing.
Nutrition
Calories: 667kcalCarbohydrates: 55gProtein: 25gFat: 43gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 11gMonounsaturated Fat: 25gTrans Fat: 1gSodium: 1786mgPotassium: 1163mgFiber: 14gSugar: 11gVitamin A: 7007IUVitamin C: 49mgCalcium: 547mgIron: 8mg
Nutritional values are estimates only and will vary depending on specific ingredients used. Nutrition is per serving. Information is for the main recipe, not optional accompaniments.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
COPYRIGHT
© The Golden Polar Bear, 2025. Recipes and photography by Julia Savory. If you share this, please pass it along with kindness and if possible share a link back to this site. #ForTheAnimals
Photographed truthfully. If you cook it, yours will look like mine.
Next Steps?
You’ve got the full recipe — now take it further. Inside Black Labrador, you’ll find structured video courses and an ever-growing cookbook designed to help you cook with understanding, not guesswork. Learn, revisit, and deepen your skills at your own pace.
‘Totally recommend the cookery course. The meals are really tasty and full of flavour (not like most of the vegan mush I make for myself).’
Kerry B, Cumbria
I was really missing ricotta cannelloni having not eaten it for years. This is not exactly the same, but its an excellent alternative. The lemon almond cream gives it a freshness that works for Summer, and the overall richness of the dish means it works for winter. I misread the recipe and put tbsps instead of tsps of lemon so ended up with 3x as much, and I still really liked it. I’ve made a load of it now and its in the freezer. 5 stars for versatility.