Tofu ricotta stuffed shells, Happy Herbivore “sausage” topped with a no oil pesto sauce
My challenge this weekend (well, one of them) was to create a pesto-like sauce without the oil. It’s something I’ve been tossing about for a while, but with the tofu ricotta recipe perfected recently, it became necessary–and so did stuffed shells.
The quest for jumbo shells was a three store journey… after which I decided that trying to find whole grain ones would be futile. Enriched pasta in hand (though I have to imagine somewhere, someplace whole grain ones exist), I went home to stuff some shells with tofu ricotta. There was left over marinara in my fridge, I thought to myself, if the pesto sauce didn’t turn out. The marinara is in the freezer now… the sauce turned out great.
No Oil Pesto Sauce
1 packed cup basil leaves
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
2 tablespoons miso
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 cup walnuts halves
2 cups chopped spinach
- In a blender, combine the broth, basil, miso, yeast and walnuts. Blend until somewhat smooth and the walnuts are well chopped.
- In a small sauce pan add the blended mixture and stir in the spinach.
- Simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.
- Serve hot with your favorite pasta dish.
