Nov 26

Nov 26 White wine mushroom stuffed shells with spinach ricotta

Today we are making spinach and ricotta stuffed shells with a creamy sage bechamel and white wine mushrooms on top! This pasta bake is the perfect winter dish on these cold November and december nights. This is a great recipe for upcoming holiday parties as friends and family will love this.

We alle know the classic combination of ricotta and spinach and how it works so well with tomato sauce and pasta. Today I’m twisting this classic a little by replacing the tomato sauce with white wine bechamel and adding mushrooms. This combination makes for a delicious comforting dish.

The key here is to add white wine to the bechamel to give it a richer an more sophisticated taste. I also added a cheeky little splash of wine to the mushroom while frying them in the pan ;). But hey, if you don’t want to use wine, feel free to leave it out completely.

Recipe

This serves 4 people

Ingredients

300-400 Gr of giant shell pasta, precooked halfway in boiling salted water
250 gr of firm tofu
500 gr of fresh spinach
2 large cloves of garlic
60-80 gr of grated vegan parmesan, my favorite brand linked here
400 gr of mushrooms of choice
a few fresh sage leaves
pinch of nutmeg
olive oil

For the white wine bechamel

3 tbs of vegan butter
2 heaping tbs of flour
200 ml of (vegan) white wine
1L of vegan milk, unsweetened
pinch of nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

Intructions

Start by preheating your oven to 180°C.
Make the bechamel by melting the butter in a pot.
Add the flour and whisk to form a uniform roux.
Whilst whisking fry for a minute, then add the wine.
Whisk whisk whisk to prevent any clumps, then add half of the milk.
Keep whisking to avoid clumps and let the bechamel heat through.
Once it starts to bubble see if it needs more milk, it should have the concistency of a runny pancake batter.
Season with the nutmeg, salt and pepper. Set aside.
Make the spinach and ricotta filling by blending the tofu into a fine ricotta texture in a food processor.
Add some olive oil in a frying pand and add the spinach.
Leave the spinach to wilt then add 1 minced garlic clove and season with salt and pepper.
Finely chop the cooked spinach and add this to the tofu ricotta.
Stir and season with salt, pepper, nutmeg and the parmesan.
Then slice the mushrooms and heat up some olive oil in the same pan as we cooked the spinach.
Place it on a very high heat, once the oil is hot add the mushrooms and sage and fry until golden.
Add the garlic, season with salt and pepper once again and set aside.
Now it’s time to fill the pasta shells.
Spoon some of the bechamel on the bottom of a baking dish.
Fill the pasta shells one by one with the ricotta-spinach mixture and place them in the baking dish.
Cover the stuffed shells with the mushrooms and cover with the remaining bechamel.
Place in the oven to bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until golden, bubbly and the pasta is cooked through.
Serve with some more fresh sage on top.
Buon appetito!