Rotolo is an Italian classic which is kind of like a rolled-up lasagne.

Here I have made the budget version because I am time rich and money poor, but if you are time poor and money rich you can speed this up by buying ready-made pasta, pasta sauce, frozen spinach and using ricotta instead of making a bechamel. There are plenty of recipes for this on the internet.

Ingredients for 4 to 6 servings

1 quantity of 3 egg pasta

For the silverbeet bechamel:

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, diced

1 clove garlic, crushed

9 large leaves of silverbeet plus stems

40 gm butter

40 gm flour

400 ml milk

300 gm grated cheese

For the tomato sauce:

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic

2x 400 ml cans crushed tomatoes in juice

Fresh or dried basil

Salt and pepper

To finish:

30 gm parmesan cheese finely grated

Method

Make the pasta according to instructions, cover and when you are ready, roll and cut to 9 rectangles 15 x 20 cm. Or use fresh lasagne sheets from the supermarket.

To make the bechamel:

Separate the silverbeet leaves from the stems. Use 5 of the stems and cut into fine dice by slicing lengthways three times then across. Chop the leaves.

Soften the onion and garlic in the olive oil, add the silverbeet stems, cover and cook gently until the stems have softened.

Put the leaves into a bowl, boil the jug and pour boiling water over. Swish around and leave for a couple of minutes before draining. When cool enough to not scald yourself, place inside a clean tea towel and wring out into the sink to extract as much water as you can. Chop finely.

When the silverbeet stems are soft, add the butter to the pan. Allow to melt then take off the heat and stir in the flour. Return to a low heat and cook gently stirring all the while for one minute to cook the flour. Remove from the heat again and slowly add the milk, stirring, to incorporate smoothly into the flour/silverbeet mixture. Return to the heat and bring gently to the boil so the mixture thickens, stirring all the while to avoid lumps. Remove from the heat and add the silverbeet leaves and cheese. Stir to combine.

To make the tomato sauce:

Soften the onions and garlic in olive oil, add the tomatoes and dried basil and salt and pepper and let simmer while you are preparing everything else. Add fresh basil at the end.

To assemble:

Put the tomato sauce in the bottom of an oven proof dish.

Lay out the 9 pasta rectangles, brush them with water, and evenly distribute the silverbeet bechamel among them. Spread the bechamel over each, then, long sides facing you, roll into 20 cm rolls. Cut each into 4 (like sushi) then place cut side up into the  tomato sauce filled baking dish. Continue in this fashion until all the rolls are used up (you should have made 36) and are tucked snuggly into the tomato sauce which should come nearly up to the tops of the rolls. Brush a little of the sauce over the top, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with parmesan. Bake in a moderate oven for half an hour or until bubbling and golden.