Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Vegan Tortellini with Roasted Pepper Cream Sauce

Vegan Mom and I recently celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary and I wanted to commemorate the occasion with a great meal. Way back when we used to make a tortellini dish with green peppers, mushrooms, and a simple cream sauce. I thought I would re-imagine the dish by making it a little more refined with roasted peppers and a less chunky sauce. The sauce turned out really well, but you need to patience of freakin' Job to make tortellini by hand. They are awesome, of course, but I think I will have to save them for special occasions. Or, maybe I need to make them a lot so I get faster.

INGREDIENTS
Tortellini
- 1 recipe tofu ricotta
- 1 recipe fresh pasta dough

Roasted Pepper Cream Sauce
- 1 red pepper
- 1 orange pepper
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp margarine
- 1 onion
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp basil
- 1 recipe cashew cream (remainder from making the ricotta)
- 1/2 cup veggie broth
- salt and pepper to taste

METHOD
1. Make tofu ricotta, then make the tortellini like you see in this video. I found it very helpful to put the tofu ricotta in a piping bag--it really sped up the filling process. Let dry a bit before cooking.
2. Make the sauce: roast peppers, then skin, core, seed, and chop. Heat oil and margarine over medium heat in a saucepan. Saute onion and garlic for 7-10 mins, until soft and translucent. Add in chopped pepper, basil, cashew cream, and broth. Blend until smooth with an immersion blender, then season to taste. Heat, but don't boil, and then serve over cooked tortellini.
NOTE: these freeze and cook really well (as do the ravioli). Once dried, place in a bad in the freezer. Drop as many as you want in boiling water and cook until they all float.