It's VEGAN Ricotta Stuffed Shells people!
Forget the boring-tear-inducing origin story and let's get to the recipe!
...however, if you really wanna know how I made mine with my little tips and tricks, you can find the details further on.
INGREDIENTS
1/2 box of Large Pasta Shells (Half of this box feed 2 people just fine. So a full box for 4)
3/4 cup Hummus (Plain or garlic works best)
200gr Extra Firm Tofu
3 tbsp Nutritional Yeast (optional...but gives an extra cheesy flavor)
1 tbsp Oregano or Thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup Tomato sauce of choice (I buy plain and season it myself. It's healthier)
1/2 cup (or more!) Shredded Vegan Cheese of choice (I use Daiya because It's cheapest)
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Follow cooking instructions for pasta as per the box. I like to cook mine al dente, which means having a little 'chew' in them. Strain and put aside. (If you're a pro, like me, you'll get the filling ready while the pasta cooks to save time)
2. Prepare the filling: crumble the tofu and mix with the hummus, herbs, yeast and seasoning. The flavor should be light and pleasant.
3. Time to fill the shells! (And while you're at it, preheat the oven to 300). Now, I'm spoiled and I have a pastry sleeve, which makes filling them easy and oh-so-fancy! But you could easily do it with a spoon. So just fill them up to your liking, but not too full so they keep their cute shape.
5. Place the shells in your dish and then top with the sauce all over.
6. Finish it off but sprinkling the cheese all over.
7. Place in oven and bake around 10 min or until cheese is melted.
That's it! Pour out some good white wine and enjoy!
Now if you're a visual person like me, enjoy the pics below of the process!
Here are the ingredients I used, in case you want to make things easy and just pick the ones I did.
Remember, I did go for the plain sauce, so if you choose that you will have to season it.
Here is a look at the mixture of tofu, hummus, yeast, oregano and seasoning.
Also, if you choose to go with natural hummus, but still want a garlic flavor, it's actually best to use powdered garlic rather than raw.
Prepping my filling...
Ok..again, you CAN use a simple spoon, but filling these was SO satisfying!!
And really...you should ALWAYS have a piping sleeve!
That's an order!
So here's a little note on my sauce:
I purchased the plain sauce and simply added salt, a little paprika, garlic powder, a dash of sugar and some of the pasta water saved from my boiled pasta. This is enough to make a nice light tomato sauce.
Again, you can choose one that's already seasoned, but I find I can control the amount of sodium and processed items that could go into it.
