I have this bad habit of buying random things at the grocery store and never using them. I can’t tell you how long we had a box of pasta shells hanging in our cupboard (would you judge me if I said it was more than a few months). Finally, this weekend I just couldn’t take it anymore. I mean the box was taking up like 1/2 of one of our coveted shelves (which is pretty major when we have one cupboard for food).
Typically, you stuff pasta shells full of fatty cheese. But since we had just come back from vacation indulgence overload, I couldn’t stomach another tummy roll producing meal. After scouring our fridge, I happened upon a butternut squash which when roasted makes the perfect sub for cheese. Ding ding ding. We’ve found a winning combo. Butternut squash stuffed shells.
To keep with the vegan feel of the shells, I decided to top the shells with a vegan white sauce. This particular sauce is great because it’s easy to make and it can be flavored to suit any kind of dish. So if you prefer a bland sauce, feel free to leave out the garlic and red pepper flakes.
Butternut Squash Stuffed Shells
Ingredients
Vegan White Sauce:
- 4 tablespoons vegan margarine
- 4 tablespoons whole wheat flour
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 3 cups non-dairy milk
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- Dash of red pepper flakes
- Salt
- Pepper
Shells
- 1 large butternut squash diced into 1 inch squares
- 1 15 ounce can of cannellini beans
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 1 large onion diced
- 8 ounces mushrooms diced
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
- 1 box jumbo large pasta shells
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place diced butternut squash on two cookie sheets. Drizzle extra virgin oil olive over the squash and then sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix everything up with your hands.
Put the butternut squash in the oven for 1 hour, making sure to stir and rotate the cookie sheets half way through.
Remove butternut squash from oven and allow to cool.
While squash is cooling, you can make the sauce. Melt margarine over medium heat. Then whisk in flour and nutritional yeast.
Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Then add in non-dairy milk. Bring mixture to boil and then turn to low heat. Allow mixture to simmer until it comes to the right consistency. Make sure to stir often. If you over reduce your mixture, you can always add more non-dairy milk to thin it out. Salt and pepper your sauce to taste.
While the sauce is simmering, you can start cooking the shells. Follow the directions on your package.
As the shells are boiling, you can finish up the filling. Saute the onions and mushrooms for five minutes. Add in the garlic, parsley, and oregano and cook for one minute.
Add butternut squash and beans to a food processor and process until smooth. Add this mixture to the onions and mushrooms. Cook for two minutes.
Then remove from heat. Salt and pepper to taste.
Now that all your components are done, you can start stuffing your shells.
Cover the bottom of a 11 x 17 pan with 1/2 cup of you white sauce. Then start stuffing your shells. I stuffed my shells with about 1/4 cup of the butternut squash mixture. Then place the shell with the edges toward the sauce. Continue until you’ve filled all your shells.
Pour the remaining sauce on top of the shells. Then sprinkle the remaining nutritional yeast on top of the sauce.
Bake the shells at 350 for 30 minutes.
Then remove from the oven. Allow to cool for 5 minutes and then your shells are ready to serve.
This was the perfect welcome home meal after a long week of extra food indulgence.
It was extra comforting but not heavy.
And it turns out butternut squash makes a perfect fake cheese filling.
Vegan food can definitely still be delicious.