This recipe makes me so happy and brings me back to my childhood. I pretty much lived off of Italian food growing up, and I still till this day could never go without my pasta fixes! I love making plant-based versions of classic Italian dishes and this one is AMAZING!
(Vegan, Gluten-Free, Soy-Free)
(Serves 3-4)
Ingredients:
Marinara sauce of choice
Basil leaves (optional garnish)
2 cups of spinach
3/4 cup of green peas
Plant-based ricotta (recipe below)
Plant-based ricotta:
1 head of cauliflower, chopped into florets
1 cup of cashews, soaked for a 1-2 hours & strained
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 lemon, squeezed
1/4 cup of water
2 tbsp of chopped parsley
Pinch of salt & pepper to taste
1 tbsp of olive oil (optional)
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375F and line parchment paper on a baking pan. Place the cauliflower florets and garlic cloves on the baking pan and bake for 30 mins (remove the garlic cloves after 15 mins or until golden brown).
In a blender or food processor, blend together all the ingredients for the plant-based ricotta for 2 minutes until it becomes a thick mixture.
Cook the pasta according to the directions and sauté the spinach and peas in a pan. Mix together the plant-based ricotta, spinach and peas together and put it into a piping bag.
Preheat the oven to 310F. Cover the bottom of a baking dish with a thin layer of tomato sauce. Cut off about 1/2 inch of the piping bag and pipe the ricotta mixture into the manicotti pasta. Lay out the stuffed manicotti on the baking dish and pour the tomato sauce on top. Bake for 10 mins until hot.
Garnish with basil & enjoy!