Greatest Hits Compilation

This manicotti involves some of my favorite vegan elements- a delicious tofu ricotta and a sauce so creamy you will forget that it doesn't have dairy. I had never made it like this before but I found myself craving pumpkin sage cream sauce and my spinach and ricotta cheese manicotti, so I decided to combine the two.

I sauteed an onion in two cloves of fresh garlic and olive oil, and then added generous handfuls of washed, chopped baby spinach.

Making tofu ricotta is a treat because I try to limit the amount of soy I eat- even in forms like tofu, because that's still heavily processed. I loosely followed the cashew and tofu ricotta recipe from Veganomicon, which in addition to a block of tofu has cashews, garlic, lots of spices, and lemon juice. It is my favorite recipe because the cashews really make things creamy. Tofu on its own kind of just tastes like food processed tofu with a bit of spices thrown in.

After the tofu ricotta was blended, I dumped it in a bowl with the spinach and onion mixture, stirred it all together, and then started my least favorite part of making manicotti- stuffing the manicotti. Boo. Hiss. It stinks and it's messy and you just have to remind yourself it is worth it.

When they were all stuffed (I don't cook them beforehand because they simmer in the sauce and get soft) I smeared the remaining mixture on top and then started throwing together the sauce.

My friend Gordon had posted on FB about making pumpkin sage cream sauce. I adapted the recipe he gave me by nixing the soy cream and adding a can of full fat coconut milk instead. To this I added one cup of canned, pureed pumpkin.

Then I just seasoned to taste with whatever sounded good- ground and rubbed sage, a bit of marjoram, some white pepper, and a bit a cayenne pepper.

I remembered how great pecans taste with creamy, light sauces, so I sauteed some chopped pecans in a pan with a bit of vegan butter, brown sugar, and more sage.

The pecans were sprinkled on top...

and then the sauce was dumped on top of that. I think I cooked this at about 350 for around 45 minutes, spooning the sauce on top periodically so that it didn't dry out.

This doesn't look very appetizing since it is all so very brown, but when you cut it open the tofu ricotta/onion/spinach mixture oozed out and it was amazing. I was very happy that such a thrown together, making it up as I went along meal worked out so well! If you've never tried pumpkin sage cream sauce give it a whirl with the canned coconut milk- it makes it creamy and thick and honestly just the pumpkin and coconut milk taste so good together that you can't go wrong. Just season to taste and pour it over whatever you might be baking. I think this sauce would work really well on baked penne, or as a sauce with some farfalle pasta and veggies.