Minnesota Food Lover

This recipe is in a little book “Tofu Magic” by Julia Weinberg.  My Mother-in-Law gave this to me years ago.  I was thinking of her and my Mom lately; missing them both on Mother’s Day.  Marion (my Mother-in-Law) was a very sweet, generous and thoughtful person.  She knew that I had an interest in cooking with Tofu and gave me this book. 

I haven’t looked at the book in years and thought it was a good time to pick it up and try a couple of recipes.  I decided on the Manicotti because I had a half used box of manicotti shells in my pantry.  It was fairly easy to make.  The hardest part was stuffing the shells.  In hindsight the shells were too soft for stuffing.  They would have been easier to stuff if under-cooked by a couple of minutes, but had I cooked the shells according to the package. 

The original recipe did not include garlic so I added it.  What is Italian without garlic!  The Manicotti are covered with tomato sauce as is the traditional Manicotti, but I made the error of getting a jar of “Chunky Marinara” sauce that I had not tried before.  It was too overpowering and frankly not good at all.  I think a version of homemade sauce would be best because you could taste it before using.

This recipe could become one of my favorites if I made a couple of changes.  I want to try it again with a good tomato sauce and under-cooking the shells.  Here is the modified recipe how I would make it next time:

Manicotti
Serves 4

1 14 oz. package of Firm Tofu, drained
1/2 C Asiago, Romano, Parmesan or a mixture of two cheeses, grated
1/3 C green onion, chopped
1 large clove garlic, minced
2 tsp. basil, dried, crushed
1 tsp. oregano, dried, crushed
1/4 C parsley, fresh, finely chopped
8 manicotti shells, slightly under-cooked
2 c Italian Sauce
1/2 c Mozzarella cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 350⁰F.

Crumble tofu in a medium bowl.  Add Asiago/Romano/Parmesan cheese mix, onion, garlic, basil, oregano and parsley.  Toss together so all ingredients are evenly combined. Stuff cooked manicotti shells with the tofu mixture

In a 9 inch square glass casserole dish, spread half of the sauce.  Place stuffed shells on top of sauce.  Pour remaining sauce over the shells and sprinkle with shredded cheese.  Bake for 30 minutes or until cheese melts and sauce is bubbly.  Let rest a couple of minutes and serve.