Impress your guest with something that looks complicated, but is not!
Winter is the perfect season for bechamel. Everything topped with bechamel – lasagne, cannelloni, crêpes – look decadent and delicious. Some days ago I was at the Italian grocery and I saw the pasta shells. I remembered when my mother used to make pasta shells on Sunday and how much I liked it, so I’ve decided to make a vegan version. In this recipe you will find the simple instructions to make your own cashew ricotta, that can be used in many other recipes.
Pasta shells filled with cashew ricotta
Ingredients
- 450gr tofu (for the Cashew Ricotta)
- 2tbs nutritional yeast (for the Cashew Ricotta)
- 2 garlic cloves (for the Cashew Ricotta)
- 1/cup cashews (for the Cashew Ricotta)
- 1/2cup water (for the Cashew Ricotta)
- 1/2 tsp salt (for the Cashew Ricotta)
- 1tsp lemon juice (for the Cashew Ricotta)
- 250ml vegan bechamel
- pasta shells
- fresh spinaches
Directions
- soak in warm water the cashews for a couple o hours. Then blend all the ingredients for the ricotta.
- sauté the spinaches (washed, and chopped) and mix with the ricotta
- to make the bechamel, follow the instructions here. Use 1/2 of the ingredients of the recipe since we need only 250ml.
- cook the pasta shells until al dente. Drain well (make sure you empty the shells of water)
- scoop the ricotta filling inside the pasta shells
- place the pasta on an ovenproof dish and cover with bechamel.
- sprinkle with a mix of bread crumbles and nutritional yeast. Bake for 30 minutes at to 180°.
Tips: if you lightly toast the quinoa on a bit of oil before actually cooking it, you won’t need to wash it then!
