Servings: Yield: 18 rolls Source: Based on recipes from pbs.org, fatfreevegan.com, and foodnetwork.com
INGREDIENTS
“Cheese” Sauce:
1/2 cup extra-firm silken tofu
1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk
1/2 cup vegetable broth
2 tablespoons tahini
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 1/2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoon corn starch
Filling:
1.5 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon oregano
1tsp basil
16 ounces extra-firm silken tofu
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
7 ounces fresh spinach, chopped very small
Other:
1 ½ cups Pumpkin puree or butternut squash puree (optional)
1 box lasagna noodles (whole grain or bean)
1 jar marinara sauce
DIRECTIONS
Make Cheese Sauce
Combine tofu, soy milk, vegetable broth, tahini, onion powder, nutritional yeast, pepper, and corn starch in food processor or high-speed blender on high until smooth
Optional: Make pumpkin Sauce
Remove about ½ of the sauce to a bowl and set aside. Whisk in the pumpkin puree to the first batch of sauce and set aside.
Make Filling
Combine the tofu, salt, oregano, basil, garlic and nutritional yeast in food processor or high-speed blender on high until smooth and “ricotta-like”.
Microwave spinach 1-2 minutes, until wilting
Add the spinach to the blended tofu mixture.
Cook Pasta and Assemble Rolls
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour about ½ cup pasta sauce into the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Cook shells in boiling water until el dente. Remove the pasta from the water using tongs and lay out on a baking sheet to cool slightly.
When cool enough to handle, start assembling the rolls. Working with a pasta sheet vertical to you, place a small amount of the fillng mixture on the end of a pasta sheet closest to you. Using a small spoon, spread the mixture evenly down the noodle. Roll the pasta around the filling, finishing with the end farthest from you. Lay the roll in the prepared pan, seam-side down. Repeat for the remaining filling and pasta. Pour remaining pasta sauce over rolls.
Use the two sauces to make stripes on the pasta. Ladle one-third of the pumpkin sauce along the side of the pan covering about half of a row of rolls. Right next to it, ladle half of the white sauce, covering another half of a row of rolls. Repeat with the remaining pumpkin and white sauces, finishing with pumpkin (5 rows of sauce altogether).
Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and move the pan to the top third of the oven and broil until the top begins to brown and the sauce is bubbling, 4 minutes.
NOTES
Adapted from