Stuffed Pasta Shells with Tofu Ricotta and Spinach
The filling is a lot like ricotta, but vegan: firm tofu is blended with soaked almonds, nutritional yeast, white miso and lemon juice, then mixed with spinach. The filled shells bake briefly in tomato sauce until everything is hot.
For the sauce, use Fody Tomato Basil Sauce. It contains tomatoes, olive oil, carrots, basil and salt, but no onion. Remember to put the almonds in to soak the evening before.
Method
- The evening before, cover the almonds with warm water, stir in 1 tsp salt and leave to soak overnight. If you forget, pour boiling water over them and leave them to stand for 30 minutes.
- Wrap the tofu in kitchen paper and press it gently to squeeze out excess water.
- Drain the almonds and blitz them in a blender or food processor with the tofu, nutritional yeast, miso, lemon juice, maple syrup and ½ tsp salt. The mixture should be thick and still slightly grainy, a little like hummus.
- Wilt the spinach in a frying pan over a medium heat with 1 to 2 tbsp water. Squeeze it out well and fold it into the tofu mixture.
- Cook the conchiglioni in plenty of salted water with 1 tbsp olive oil, following the packet instructions. Cook a few extra shells, as some will split. Drain, leaving a little water in the pan so they don’t stick together, and let them cool slightly.
- Preheat the oven to 200 °C (180 °C fan). Pour the tomato sauce into a large baking dish (about 35 × 25 cm) or two smaller ones.
- Sit the shells side by side in the sauce and fill them using two spoons. Sprinkle with the pine nuts and vegan Parmesan.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and the filling has taken on a little colour. Scatter with fresh basil and serve straight away.
Tips
- Many vegan Parmesan alternatives are made from cashews, which are high in FODMAPs. Check the label, or simply top the shells with nutritional yeast.
- According to our FODMAP list, almonds and pine nuts are fine only in small amounts. Each portion here has just over 10 g of almonds and ½ tbsp pine nuts, so don’t increase the quantities.
- You can assemble the dish up to the baking stage and keep it in the fridge for up to 3 days, or freeze it. Thaw it first if frozen; if it goes in cold from the fridge, give it a few extra minutes in the oven.
