Artichoke heart cannelloni

Februrary 28, 2026 

   

 

We were in the mood for a cosy pasta project on a Saturday night, and I pulled this one out of Deb Perelman's first Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. The photo in the book has pasta shells oozing with something creamy and cheesy, edges crisped to a golden brown, and everything flecked with green parsley. My presentation is a little more coarse but it hit the mark well enough.

 

The major hitch was that I couldn't find jumbo pasta shells. I'm not confident that they're even a thing here in Australia. I pivoted to cannelloni: that meant filling them carefully while they were uncooked and brittle, compared to shells that were intended to be cooked, soft and open for filling. I kept an eye on the amount of liquid in the sauce and the baking time, wanting to make sure that the pasta cooked through in the last phase. They did pretty well under the original instructions, though perhaps they didn't look quite as satisfyingly gooey.

 

Pasta shapes aside, we stuck to the key flavours: a filling of blended artichoke hearts brightened with white wine and lemon juice, poured over with a thick ricotta béchamel, and scattered with basil leaves. It was gorgeous, paired with a favourite simple tomato salad that I've won Michael around to.

 

 

 

Artichoke heart cannelloni

(adapted from Deb Perelman's The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook) 

 

cannelloni

3 tablespoons butter

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, diced

2 x 400g cans artichoke hearts, drained and rinsed, and sliced in half

1/4 cup white wine

1 cup grated parmesan

2 egg yolks

1 tablespoon lemon juice

salt and pepper, to taste

250g box cannelloni tubes 

 

sauce

55g butter

1/4 cup flour

2 cups milk

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 cup ricotta

2 tablespoons lemon juice

salt and pepper, to taste

 

2 tablespoons parsley or basil leaves, chopped, to garnish

 

 

Melt the butter in a medium-large frypan over medium heat. When it's lightly brown, add the olive oil, and then the onion. Cook the onion, stirring, until softened and browning, about 10 minutes. Add the artichoke hearts and cook for 5 minutes. Add the wine and cook it all, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has evaporated. Turn off the heat and allow the mixture to cool a little.

 

When the artichoke mixture is no longer too hot for it, transfer it to a food processor. Add the parmesan, egg yolks, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Pulse the mixture until it is well chopped but still retains plenty of texture.

 

Make the sauce by melting the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour. Gradually whisk in the milk, keeping it all moving to prevent lumps. Add the garlic and bring the sauce to the boil, stirring regularly. Reduce the heat and stir in the ricotta, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

 

Preheat an oven to 180°C. Spread a bit of the sauce over the base of a large, high-walled baking dish (about 20 x 30 cm). Use a teaspoon to carefully spoon the artichoke filling into each cannelloni tube, then set the tubes into the baking dish on top of the sauce. When all the cannelloni and filling is used up, spoon the remaining sauce over them. Cover the dish in foil and bake for about 30 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for a further 15 minutes.

 

Serve the cannelloni sprinkled with parsley or basil.