Irish-Italian?
By Monica on April 10th, 2008
A new fusion food? No, that’s just what came out of my oven last night: Tofu Stuffed Shells and Irish Soda Bread!
Every year as St. Patty’s Day approaches, my mother becomes exuberant over the availability of Irish Soda Bread. After St. Patty’s Day passes, she mourns the loss of her favorite morning snack. Growing weary of her complaints everyday, I tried making a loaf last night.
As it turns out, this is my kind of bread-making: No rising, no kneading, no patience required. It comes together in less than 5 minutes and goes straight into the oven. Couldn’t be easier, pretty darn tasty, and using whole wheat flour makes it just a wee-bit more nutritious and filling for a morning snack.
Irish Soda Bread
1 1/2 cups plus 2T soymilk
1T plus 1 1/2t white vinegar
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups all purpose flour
1t baking soda
1t salt
1/2 cup raisins, optional
Combine soymilk and vinegar in a small bowl and set aside.
Sift together flours, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Form a well in the center and add soured soymilk, stirring until the mixture becomes a dough firm enough to shape. Knead raisins in.
Place dough on a parchment lined baking sheet and form into a n 8″ ball, about 1″ thick.
Make some crosses across the top, about 1/2″ deep, which will make it easy to tear the bread into portions after baking.
Bake 40-45 minutes at 425 degrees until you have a firm, golden brown top and bottom.
And onto the Stuffed Shells!
Above are the naked little fellas before being covered in sauce and sent into the oven. I use this Joanne Stepaniak inspired tofu ricotta for stuffed shells, manicotti, and lasagna. It’s easy, delicious, and I always have the ingredients on hand. Plus, every omni I’ve ever served it to is amazed that it’s actually tofu, they’re actually eating it, and they actually like it!
Tofu Stuffed Shells
16 oz box stuffed shells
2 lbs tofu (I prefer 1lb extra firm, 1lb soft), patted dry and mashed
4 cloves garlic, minced
2-4T soymilk
2T olive oil
3T lemon juice
1T sugar
2T chopped fresh parsley
1T dried basil
2t onion powder
Salt & pepper to taste
1 package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained - or 3 cups fresh
4 cups of your favorite spaghetti sauce
Vegan Parmesan, optional
Prepare the stuffed shells according to package directions, drain, rinse, and cool.
In a large bowl, mix the mashed tofu, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, sugar, parsley, basil, onion powder, salt, pepper, and spinach together. Add just enough of the soymilk to give you a ricotta-like consistency.
Line a 9×13″ baking pan with half the spaghetti sauce.
Commit right now that the best way to do this is with your hands, and messily stuff each shell with approximately one heaping tablespoon of the ricotta. Line them up in your pan.
Cover the shells with the remaining pasta sauce and sprinkle with vegan Parmesan if you like.
Cover pan tightly with foil, bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
VeggieGirl says:
Irish soda bread + Italian stuffed shells = an unexpected, delicious match made in heaven!! :0)
April 10th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Jennifer says:
Oh my! How yummy! I’m not even a huge fan of tofu and those stuffed shells look good.
Your food always looks fantastic!
April 10th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Romina says:
That’s such an interesting combination!
April 10th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Shayna says:
Love the blog! And I tagged you!
April 10th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Lori- the pleasantly plump vegan says:
mmmm, those shells look good!
April 10th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
sheree says:
Hi Monica, I have to tell you that the breakfast sausage taste frighteningly real, but so good. It was amazing! I have not had sausage in so many years that I was shocked. DH who in my omniman loves them. You should really try them.
I love your shells. I have been craving stuffed shells and am going to be making these tomorrow night. Yeepee! Thanks for sharing. :o)
April 10th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Shay says:
Nice to meet you too Monica! That mexican resto here is called Under the Volcano…I’ve been there a few times. its really good isn’t it! next time you are in the area let me know and I’ll take you to the other vegan resto here - Zen garden. Its tasty too
Your dog is a Ronin too??? Thats tres cool.
And you only need to come up with 5 things not 15 lol!!
See ya!
April 10th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Cakespy says:
This is my type of fusion: the type of fusion that results in massive carbohydrate overdrive. Fantastic, fantastic.
April 11th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Amy says:
oh yay! stuffed shells was my most favorite meal as a kid! thanks for posting the recipe! they look incredible!!!!
April 11th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Chocolatecoveredvegan says:
Irish + Italian is a great combination. Add a little Polish and English and you get ME!
April 11th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
seitan eater says:
hello! Your recent cookings makes me just drooling my eyes and my mouth gets watering! Great picks! I think those stuffed shells looks fantastic, I found pasta shells like those in one “deli shop” in my town but they were little expensive. But I think I can try that stuffing with some more regulár(cheaper..) pasta stuff. Looks tasty!
I`m also trying to search some new seitan making ideas. Which seitan recipe are you thinking the best? Any suggestions about good, FLAVOURFUL seitan dough recipes?
April 11th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Animal-Friendly says:
I’ve never tried Irish soda bread, but have wanted to for awhile. Yours looks great and seems so easy!
My family is constantly requesting tofu stuffed shells (and they are all omnis!). I think that dish itself is something magical…
April 11th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
melody says:
YUM!
April 13th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
sheree says:
I made the stuffed shells for dinner and they are great! I did add nutrional yeast to the mixture because I love that stuff. At first I was bummed because I only had enough tofu to make a fourth of the recipe, but believe me that is alot. The leftovers are great. Everything blends nicely. Thanks again for sharing the recipe. :o)
April 13th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
jessy says:
hey monica!
tag! you’re it! (thought you might like to play)i’m tagging you to name five things about yourself that others may not know.
in the post, link back to my blog, and tag five others (also linking to their blogs).
i’m sorry if you’ve done this one before!
thanks for all the rock’n posts and recipes! your food always looks so darn tasty! especially that german chocolate cake you made a while back - mmmmmmm!
April 14th, 2008 at 7:58 am
bazu says:
I’m neither Irish nor Italian, but this post makes me wish I were!
April 14th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Mihl says:
I would happily take a serving both of the bread and the shells. They look amazing!
April 15th, 2008 at 12:57 am
Charlotte says:
Very nice! I love tofu, and I love stuffing it into shells and smothering it in tomato sauce. Meals like this will help convince people that tofu isn’t all bad!
April 16th, 2008 at 7:23 am
Monika K says:
Thanks, lass, these recipes look really tasty.
Ciao!
April 16th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
johanna3 says:
those shells looks too good, thanks for share the recipe!
April 19th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Sophie says:
Those shells look fabulous - I wouldn’t have thought to stuff pasta with tofu Italian style!
April 20th, 2008 at 2:47 am
Jackie says:
Thanks for an easy recipe for Irish soda bread. I haven’t had it for years as I wasn’t sure how to make it Vegan.
April 20th, 2008 at 6:29 am
Celine says:
I haven’t made irish soda bread in far too long, and this entry is making me wish I had some right here, right now!
April 20th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Melisser says:
ooh, those stuffed shells sound fabulous!
April 25th, 2008 at 2:36 am
River says:
I haven’t tried Stepaniak’s recipes for cheez, but these look delish! I make a stuffed shell dish too - but I MUST try your recipe
Cool pics too!!! Hugs.
April 28th, 2008 at 8:08 am