Leek And Ricotta Stuffed Shells

Leek And Ricotta Stuffed Shells

Yield: 8 shells

Ingredients

• 1 box brown rice Grand/Jumbo shells (Recommend Tinkyada Brand)
• 3 leeks, cleaned and chopped
• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• Sea salt

“Ricotta”:

• 1 block (12 ounces) extra firm tofu, drained, pressed for at least 3 hours, and crumbled
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 5 tablespoons nondairy cream cheese or very smooth cashew cream

Sauce (feel free to use your favorite sauce here):

• 1 bulb garlic
• 3 roma tomatoes, greens removed
• 1 small red pepper
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons leaves marjoram
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
• 1 cup pistachios, pulsed until pebbly 

Instructions

For the Sauce:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 ºF. Remove most of the papery outside of the garlic bulb and cut off tip (opposite root) to expose the tops of the garlic cloves. Place into a very loose foil pouch and drizzle lightly with about 1 teaspoon olive oil. Place into oven on a metal baking tray next to the tomatoes and the red pepper.
2. Roast the tomatoes, garlic bulb, and pepper in a preheated oven for 45 minutes to 60 minutes, or until skins on tomatoes and pepper are very wrinkly and darkened, and the garlic is caramelized and fragrant. Remove from the oven, let cool and then remove skins from the tomatoes, pepper and the roasted garlic cloves from the bulb.
3. In a food processor, blend the roasted tomatoes, pepper, and garlic along with the tomato paste, sea salt, 2 tablespoons olive oil, marjoram and fennel until smooth.

For the Shells:

1. Cook the pasta according to package directions and preheat oven to 350 °F. Once pasta is finished cooking, rinse gently with cold water and drizzle on a bit of olive oil.
2. In medium sized frying pan, saute the leeks with the olive oil and lightly salt. Cook about 7 minutes, stirring often, until leeks soften up and turn slightly golden.
3. In large bowl combine all ingredients for ricotta with wooden spoon. You don’t want to over mix it, but just evenly combine the tofu with the rest of the ingredients. Mix the sauteed leeks with the Ricotta filling and spoon into grand shells. Cover bottom of 8 inch baking dish with sauce and then carefully place shells open end up so that they fit snugly into the pan. Top with pulsed pistachios and bake for about 30 minutes, or until warmed through. Serve immediately.

Source: allysonkramer