We made this Saturday night and it was really good! It takes a little time (not much), but is something we did on the weekend. I probably would not make this on a school night. It makes a ton, so you will have leftovers for another dinner or for lunches. Today is Monday and I sent this in my kids lunch today and we are having it for lunch as well.
You can serve this with a green salad and some garlic bread if you like. We found this recipe in Whole Living magazine and modified it to use the tofu ricotta from the Veganomicon (who got it outta Vegan with a Vengeance). We also did not have the shells, so we just used the organic manicotti pasta and it worked just fine.
2tsp lemon juice
1clove garlic
2 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes (no salt added)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion (finely diced)
4 cloves garlic (minced)
black pepper
¾ cup water (boiling)
½ cup bulgur (you find this with the grains ;)
25 jumbo pasta shells
1 lb spinach
1 egg (beaten)
¼ cup (freshly grated parmesan)
what to do with the stuff:
tofu ricotta:
- in large bowl, mush up tofu with hands, until crumbly
- add lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper, basil
- mush with hands again until reach consistency of ricotta cheese, 2 – 5 mins
- add olive oil, stir with fork
- add nutritional yeast and mix everything together with a fork
- refrigerate until ready to use
ricotta and spinach stuffed shells:
- heat oil in pan over medium heat. Saute onion and garlic until tender (about 7min). Add tomatoes and cook, stirring until slightly thickened (about 20min). Season with black pepper.
- Pour boiling water over bulgur, cover, and let stand until soft and water is absorbed (about 30min)
- cook shells and let cool
- steam spinach, covered, over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until tender. Squeeze out excess moister, coarsely chop, and add to bulgur. Stir in tofu ricotta. Season with pepper and stir in egg.
- coat bottom of a 9×13 inch casserole dish with 1 cup of sauce. Spoon filling into shells and arrange in pan. Add remaining sauce over top, cover with foil and bake at 350 until bubbling (about 40 min). Sprinkle with parmesan before serving.
