goats cheese and pomodorino tomato cannelloni

Is it possible to suffer from a surfeit of tomatoes? Not in my experience and if you like tomatoes, you will love this deliciously tangy pasta dish, which uses two varieties of tomato. This is popular with vegetarians and meat-eaters alike and is a great "hands-on" recipe too; everyone seems to really enjoy rolling up the lasagne sheets to make their own cannelloni. Mucky pups that they are!

Serves 4
Skill level: Easy
Preparation time: 1 hr 20 mins

ingredients:
5 tbsp fruity olive oil
750g ripe pomodorino (baby plum) or cherry tomatoes
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp golden caster sugar
6 tbsp fresh green pesto (Either make your own, or buy a good quality fresh pesto, not the stuff in a jar. It always seems to taste rancid!)
225g soft rindless goats cheese
12 x fresh lasagne sheets
350g ripe vine tomatoes, sliced very thinly
3 tbsp freshly grated parmesan
fresh basil leaves, torn

directions:

1. Preheat oven to 220C / Gas Mark 7.
2. Oil a large shallow baking dish.
3. Halve 250g of the baby plum or cherry tomatoes and set aside.
4. Heat the oil in a large frying or saucepan and add the rest of the whole baby plum or cherry tomatoes. Cover and cook over a moderately high heatfor about 5 minutes, shaking the pan every so often so that the tomatoes don't stick. They will eventually collapse.
5. Add 1 teaspoon of sugar, the oregano and seasoning. Check the taste and if necessary add the rest of the sugar and more seasoning. Set aside.
6. Beat the pesto into the goats cheese.
7. Spoon half of the tomato sauce mixture onto the bottom of the baking dish.
8. Lay out the fresh lasagne on a chopping board and spread the cheese mixture over each sheet of pasta.
9. Put a layer of the sliced vine tomatoes on top of the cheese, then roll up the pasta to form a cannelloni tube and continue until all 12 sheets have been rolled up.
10. Place the cannelloni tubes on top of the tomato mixture.
11. Spooon over the rest of the tomato mixture.
12. Scatter over the cherry tomato halves.
13. Cover with foil and bake for 25 to 20 minutes.
14. Uncover and sprinkle with cheese and bake for a further 10 minutes.
15. To serve, sprinkle with torn basil leaves.