Getting a review copy of Bill Granger’s Feed Me Now is an exciting moment indeed. Exciting because like many Sydneysiders, I have grown up eating Bill’s hotcakes and scrambled eggs and watched him grow from a single cafe in Darlinghurst to a TV chef with an International presence and several eateries (including one in Japan). And somehow we all still look at him as the man who gave us buttery scrambled eggs and fluffy ricotta hotcakes with honeycomb butter.
The book with a picture of the smiling Granger on the cover is a attractive looking tome indeed and lushly styled in that rustic home style with colour saturated pictures, longingly pretty produce and fantastic crockery and wares. It’s slightly less “Sydney” looking i.e. less beachy and waterfront looking which probably speaks to his new international status. It’s split up into nine sections, each to cover each possible circumstance from “Rise & Shine ” i.e. breakfast – what he is most well known for – to “Dinner Dash” i.e. fast dinner meals to the clever “Freeze Me” with soups, stews, pies and pastas and “Friends Over” which features a main and 2 sides for each menu and the timely “On A Shoestring” which speaks to the GFC that currently affects the world.
Beef Pot Pie
In the same way that Nigella Express speaks to time poor people, Feed Me Now also speaks to them in a slightly gentler and less ferociously fast pace. Here there aren’t a lot of tinned shortcuts – the emphasis is still on freshly cooked foods made from scratch, but as Bill is known for his simple, tasty home cooking, this continues in that vein. There’s certainly nothing like Spun Toffee or Pressed Duck in here – the most difficult looking and impressive looking thing is the Tiramisu Ice Cream Cake.
To some, and probably the ones that like to spin toffee, they may find that the recipes err on the side of simple (for example the avocado, prawn and fennel open sandwich) and for accomplished cooks, they will probably seek inspiration in other more complicated books but even for some like me that cooks a lot, there are some fabulous sounding ideas where he puts a twist on the regular version e.g. quesadillas with black beans and green tomato salsa or apple fruit cake and a lot of “Why didn’t I think of that?” moments.
Tiramisu Ice Cream Cake
My favourite chapter of any cookbook is the dessert one and here it’s called “Sweet Dreams”. It is a relatively short chapter but the silky caramel custard with cinnamon begs to be made (although there is no picture of this) as well as the Tiramisu Ice Cream cake which has the added bonus of being frightfully easy to do.
As for the usual test of how appealing a cookbook is, i.e. the number of post it flags stuck onto recipe pages, I counted at least 10 in mine from the Japanese fried chicken, spiced chicken dumpling soup, roast chicken curry, sticky five spice ribs to many more.
The first recipe that caught my eye was the Pumpkin Cannelloni, because I just happen to love pumpkin and I know my husband adores cannelloni. It’s delicious and fairly easy to put together. When I make this again (and I will) I would add feta to balance out the sweetness of the pumpkin as it can come across as a little too sweet without it. I would also sprinkle some water over the pasta before adding the bechamel just to ensure that the pasta becomes suitably tender as there is no tomato sauce baked onto the pasta. It is delicious though and 2-3 cannelloni tubes with a side salad can easily become a weeknight dinner over the course for a several days if there are just the two of you.
And for Bill Granger fans, stay tuned! I have a surprise for you coming up soon 
Pumpkin Cannelloni
Serves 4 or 6 for lunch
- 6 large fresh lasagne sheets or 12-14 smaller sized ones. I bought a 400g packet of 13 lasagne sheets from Coles
- 35g/1 oz parmesan
Filling
- 1.25kg peeled, deseeded pumpkin cut into 3 cm cubes
- 1 large red onion, cut into thin wedges
- 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons thyme leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon dried chili flakes
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Cheese sauce
- 40g butter
- 3 tablespoons plain flour
- 750ml milk
- 1 bay leaf
- 240g ricotta
Mashed pumpkin with onions
1. Preheat the oven to 200C. To make the filling, place pumpkin and onion on a large baking tray and drizzle olive oil on top. Sprinkle thyme, chili, salt and pepper on top and roast for 45 minutes until golden stirring occasionally. Cool slightly and mash with a fork ensuring to leave some texture.
Seasoning cheese sauce
2. To make the cheese sauce , heat the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and cook, stirring for 2-3 minutes or until bubbling. gradually whisk in the milk then add bay leaf and cook. stirring until the sauce is thickened and smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in the ricotta and season with salt and pepper.
Filling the cannelloni
Tubes of cannelloni rolled, ready to position in baking tray
3. Lightly butter a baking dish or use a non stick one ensuring you use one that will snugly hold the cannelloni. Pour 1/3 of the cheese sauce onto to base of the baking tray. then assemble the cannelloni by filling in each one with 2-3 tablespoons of filling and fold over to make a tube to enclose filling.
Place cannelloni in a single layer on top of cheese sauce and then sprinkle some water on the pasta. Pour the rest of the sauce on top ensuring that the cannelloni is covered with sauce. Cover with grated parmesan.
4. Cover and freeze at this stage. Or if cooking this now, bake in a 180C oven for 35-40 minutes until golden and bubbling. Serve with tomato sauce below.
To cook from frozen, place in a preheated oven at 160C for about 45 minutes until golden and heated through.
Simple tomato sauce
Makes about 800ml
- 800g tinned chopped tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- freshly ground black pepper
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
1. Empty tomatoes into a saucepan and cook over a medium heat for about 15-25 minutes until reduced and thickened. Add remaining ingredients and cook for 1 minute.
Adapted from Feed Me Now by Bill Granger
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39 Comments | Add your own
Oh these canelloni look amazing. I d like to try them. I love canelloni and its a nice variation the my usual recipe
oh I m hungry now 
Another beautiful post! I’ve never made cannelloni before. It looks yummy!
yummmmmmmmmmmmm cant wait to try!
question: fresh pasta…from coles-is it in the fridge section where the cheeses etc are?this is the fresh stuff which is malleable obviously not the stuff that comes out of box right…..
Yummie, Lorraine!! I am a great Bill’s fan! I have all of his books, but not the latest one!
This lasagna looks lovely & so delicious! I love your pictures who are beautiful as allways!! Yum!
The cannelloni looks great and could only be better with added feta or ricotta.
On the whole I’m a fan of Bill Granger – his food philosophy is a healthy but realistic one and his recipes just work.
His excellent breakfast recipes have also gotten me out of trouble on several occasions!
I have no idea how you manage to make photos of cheese sauce appealing, your photography is amazing as always!
Seriously I have never seen or heard of a pumpkin looking soo good! I love that setting of the Tiramisu, in the book, so warm & appealing
Thanks for the recipe of Bill Granger’s Feed Me now, it’s great to here what people think of the book out there. This cannelloni recipe looks great too! I’ll have to check the book out next time I’m at the shops
YUM! I’m in a pasta kind of mood lately
*wonders what it would take to kidnap Lorraine and keep her tied to my kitchen…*
Hehe…seriously though, your blog has saved us on so many nights, I rarely ever say “I don’t know what I want for dinner” anymore!
We could eat the filling alone by itself. The top picture of the pumpkin and onions looks so enticing.
I’ve been debating whether or not to buy his book but I might just have to!
Looks absolutely delicious!!
x
I love cannnelloni & you’v made me a fan of Bill Granger. An appealing book indeed. Can’t wait to explore thebook more with you Lorraine! Well reviewed!!
looks so yummy when it’s made so fresh
That looks really yummy! Once pumpkin season rolls around again I’ll have to give it a try. I love pumpkin and pasta!
Yum! That looks really delicious. I’ll have to check this cookbook out soon.
I already had the book on my wish list & now I know why. I have to have it!!!
I wish I had some pumpkin so I could make the cannelloni for lunch……I wonder if sweet potato will work instead?
My husband and i adore pumpkin. I must get a copy of this book!
The canelloni look deluxe! I am very excited about the new Bill Granger book too, thanks for the review. I am also trying to track down Nigella Express – I love the TV series.
I saw your post it note tags on your review copy of the book. Have you seen the kikki k sticky notes? They are especially for recipes and are pre printed and colour coded for recipe type. Very cute and useful, around $8 if I remember correctly
Have a great weekend, hun!
I adore new cookbooks, and Bill Granger’s latest looks pretty good. Thanks for testing out the recipe, I’ll have to give it a go.
I love roast pumpkin, so to go the extra step and serve it with cheese sauce sounds like a magnificent meal. I like the idea of the fetta too, it goes well with pumpkin.
That cheesy golden top looks delicious! I totally agree, Bill will forever be the ricotta hotcake man to me. Thanks for the review, I do like how his recipes are always straight-forward. Please tell me that you are going to make that tiramisu ice cream cake!
OOhh yuummm! Pumpkkinnn in cannelloni form! although… it would have been better if you had ricotta as part of the filling as well
hee hee call me cheese crazzy
I’ve never been a big fan of Bill Granger but I recently made a salad of his and was most impressed – and now this cannelloni – maybe I could be converted!
My Mum made the Tiramisu Ice Cream Cake last weekend and it was delicious!
Anything with pumpkin is superb, in my opinion. I’ve never heard of a pumpkin canelloni, but I’m itching to have a taste of it! Please come cook for me!
Hi snooky doodle-definitely give it a go, it’s so easy and delicious
Hi Barbara-Thankyou!
It’s my first time too! 
Hi jay-Cool!
Yup it’s where you can find fresh filled pastas near the cheeses and meats and yep the stuff
that is malleable and can be curved into rolls
Hi Sophie-Oh great! Ah you are a real fan indeed
Thankyou so much! x
Hi Rachel-Yup I love feta and pumpkin together so I suggested adding feta. Yes the fact that they work is a
huge plus! Hehe that’s great! Thankyou so much, that’s very sweet of you to say!
Hi Soma-Hehe thankyou! Yep as soon as I saw the tiramisu I was
Wow!
Hi Anita-You’re welcome! Definitely worth getting. I might buy some for friends too that are time poor
Hi Tiffany-Cool! Yes it’s definitely pasta weather
Haha that’s so funny 
Aww schusk, that’s so great to
hear that it’s helped! I’m chuffed to hear that
Hi The Duo Dishes-Hehe it was tempting I tell you!
Hi Iron Chef Shellie-It’s a goodie I have to say
Thankyou! x
Hi deeba-Oh very cool! Thankyou so much, you are too kind!
Hi Simon Food Favourite-Yes fresh pasta is fantastic!
Hi anna-Ah yes when it does definitely give this a go and let me know what you think about it
Hi Bria-Thankyou!
Oh great!
Hi DevilishDamsel-Hehe cool! Oh I’m sure sweet potato would be nice in it, it’s similar enough
It might be a
bit “richer” but it should work
Hi Jen-Oh cool! Great stuff
Hi romaverona-Thankyou!
Nigella Express is also great for the time poor. It has more tinned and frozen stuff
in it than this book but both books have great recipes.
Hmm sounds rather cute-I don’t think I’ve seen them although I spend enough time in Kikki K
Thanks, you
too sweets! x
Hi belle-I love them too. I like reading them in bed
You’re welcome!
Hi Arwen -Yes a few extra steps and it’s suddenly a fabbo meal! I like the saltiness of feta with the sweetness
of pumpkin-so much flavour!
Hi Steph-Thanks! Hehe yes the egg and ricotta hotcake man
Yes that is a huge help. I am definitely
thinking about it!
Hi FFichiban-Nah feta! It’s saltier against the sweet pumpkin and I did recommend it at the end
Hi Johanna-Oh really, how come? He has simple but good food so I can’t fault that
Who knows, you might be a
convert?!
Hi KT-Oh cool, glad to hear that it works and is good too!
Hi Sophia-Hehe yes this is true
It’s good, very good stuff indeed. Hehe sure! 
Only if you cook me your omelettes and crepes 
really, all you had to say was “cheese sauce” and i would’ve been smitten. the fact that there’s pumpkin involved is merely a bonus. and may i say, those onions look particularly terrific.
I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of this, so thanks for the preview It’s hard not to love pumpkin so I’m sure I’ll be trying this.
I also wanted to say having recently found your blog I made banana caramel cobbler tonight and it was fantastic, so thanks!
I feel like I am out of the loop, I didn’t know who he was. His cook book looks great, I love the title!
It looks like there are some great recipes in there!
I love Bill’s cookbooks and was wondering whether I should add yet another of his to my shelves – thanks for the review.
I always meant to ask if you’d eaten at Bills
Of course you have!! Incidentally, did you know that he’s going to be opening a restaurant in London?
The cannelloni look awesome, and they just make me want to buy this book even more!
I didn’t know that you use fresh lasagna sheets for canneloni. Is that the typical practice? I believe I’ve only made manicotti with the regular manicotti shells that you purchase in a package. I love the idea of using fresh pasta and rolling my own!
Pumpkin is a wonderful flavor in pasta, and yes… I can see how feta would be a great addition. Nice!
Wow I like the sound of a simple cook book. I might buy this one. That cannelloni looks very delicious. I reckon it would go well with a bit of goats cheese. Mmmm
Just delicious Lorraine! I was drooling when you told me on the phone you’d made this.
I also think the caramel custard is a must to make!
Hi grace-Hehe ok cheese sauce!
Thankyou so much 
Hi Sarah -It’s a great book. Yes I am a pumpkin lover too so this recipe was just begging to be made
Oh cool! That’s so
great-thanks so much for letting me know!
Hi Jenn-Hehe he is the egg man of Australia!
Yes the title really conveys the whole tone of the tome! 
Hi Suzie-You’re welcome! It’s a very useful book and I think Bill fans would love it
Hi Angela-hehe of course! I grew up eating his hotcakes and eggs
Yes I knew he had plans. In fact stay tuned for
tomorrow’s story!
Hi Lori-the fresh lasagne sheets in the supermarket seem a bit different from freshly rolled pasta. I always thought that
with the freshly rolled stuff you may still have to boil them but I’m not 100% sure. The supermarket fresh lasagne sheets are
much firmer than freshly rolled stuff. If you do try it please let us know how you go if you have a moment!
Hi Esz -Yes simple is good when you are busy
Yes goat’s cheese would be WONDERFUL!
Hi Christie-Thankyou! Hehe yes it’s so good, I’m sure you and Dillon would love it. Yes I know, even the name sounds so enticing: silky caramel custard *drools*
hmmm, they look so delicious. I love canneloni!
could you add the tomato sauce a s the base and pput the chees sauce on top to keep the pasta moist?
Oh wauw,,,,that looks so tasty and pretty. Gonna try it on my B-day. Merci Beaucoup.
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[...] Your cookbook of the moment? I’m liking Bill Granger’s Feed Me Now as I like the fact that his recipes are reliable. One day, when the weather is warmer, I will make [...]
[...] them, to buy this book straightaway and the Pumpkin Cannelloni recipe caught my eye. Lorraine from Not Quite Nigella has tried it with flying marks, so I thought to myself, why not? But on that day, I was feeling [...]
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