I really wanted to love this, but I just didn’t. None of the parts where quite perfect and the sum of them all left me wanting. Now, its a healthy vegan version of a dish that is usually laden with fat and calories so it gets bonus points merely for coming in at 300 calories for a decent sized portion. But there just wasn’t enough flavor for me and the texture of the tofu/collard greens mixture wasn’t amazing. (Though, this could have been completely my doing since I suspect I slightly over-cooked the tofu drying it out too much.) This dish just needs a little something extra……maybe after looking at the recipe you can tell me what it is!

Printer-Friendly Recipe
Tomato White Wine Sauce
Adapted from Alton Brown’s recipe
Ingredients -
- 20 Roma tomatoes, halved and seeded
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup finely diced onion
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped oregano leaves
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped thyme leaves
- 1 cup white wine (I thought this was too much considering you don’t cook it down. The wine flavor was over-whelming instead of adding a subtle clean taste like I had hoped. Though it tasted fine after baking on the shells.)
Directions -
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. In 2 (13 by 9-inch) pans place tomato halves cut side up. Sprinkle with oil, salt and pepper, onion, garlic, and herbs. Bake tomatoes for 2 hours. Check the tomatoes after 1 hour and turn down the heat if they seem to be cooking too quickly. Then turn the oven to 400 degrees and bake another 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and process tomatoes through a food mill on medium dye setting over a small saucepan. Discard skins. Add white wine, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook for 5 minutes.
Baked Stuffed Shells
adapted from Terry Walters’ Clean Food
Ingredients -
- 8 oz large pasta shells
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1/4 cup mirin (I used white wine)
- 2 tsp dried basil
- 2 tsp dried parsley
- 1.5 lbs fresh firm tofu (I used one 14 ounce package)
- 2 bunches kale or collard greens, chopped (I used 2/3 of a large bag of collard greens pulverized in the food processor. I don’t like chunks of leaves…)
- 4 cups of tomato sauce (see above for recipe)
- 1 cup grated soy or rice mozzarella (All the recipes in the book are vegan. If you are not vegan, feel free to use regular cheese.)
Directions -
1. Preheat oven 400 degrees.
2. Cook shells according to instructions on package, drain and set aside.
3. In a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat, saute garlic and onions in olive oil until soft (about 5 minutes). Add mirin, basil and parsley and stir. Wrap tofu in paper towels and press to remove excess liquid. Crumble tofu into pot, mix with other ingredients and cook 5 minutes.
4. Fold greens into tofu mixture and continue cooking until soft. Season to taste with salt and pepper, remove from heat and set aside until cool enough to handle.
5. Stuff shells with filling and place in 9 x 12-inch lasagna pan. Cover stuffed shells with tomato sauce. Sprinkle top with cheese, cover with foil and bake 20 minutes.
6. Remove foil and bake uncovered 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let set 5 minutes before serving.
Its just a hair over 300 calories for 1/9 of the pan.
Just a recent pic from random downtown ramblings…