Narissa's "Tocatta"

Gluten Free Ricotta Substitute

We used to love lasagna and manicotti. However, we found that even using rice pasta, Brian was still getting sick. We finally discovered the culprit: ricotta cheese. It's got distilled vinegar in it! Although you can now buy some pre-prepared GF pasta dishes, we still cannot find any brand of ricotta on the market that is truly GF for those of us who want to make a good home-cooked Italian meal. So I set out to invent my own ricotta substitute--I miss my manicotti, dammit!--and this tofu-based recipe ended up being pretty darn tasty, and barely distinguishable from the real thing. Plus, it's lower fat and full of heart-healthy ingredients like soy, garlic, and olive oil.

14 oz. Extra Firm Tofu
5 oz. grated Asiago Cheese
1 medium onion, white or yellow mild variety
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp. anise seeds
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 Tbls olive oil (for sauteeing)
1 Tbls olive oil (for mixing)
(1 egg, beaten)

Dice the onion and sautee it in one tablespoon of olive oil until the onions are translucent. Reserve and let cool to room temperature.

Finely chop or press the garlic cloves and reserve.

If you are using fresh Asiago (the pre-grated stuff you can get at the supermarket is okay), finely grate it into a bowl and reserve.

Drain the tofu--be sure to squeeze out as much moisture as you can--and crumble it into a blender or food processor. Process the tofu until it is fine and crumbly. Add all the other ingredients, including the other tablespoon of olive oil (plus the beaten egg if you are doing a recipe that requires your "tocotta" to hold together really well) and pulse a few times until ingredients are well mixed.

Your "tocatta" is now ready to be spread on GF lasagna noodles, stuffed in GF manicotti, mixed in dip, or what have you!

Here are a few additions I like to mix into my "tocatta" to give it an extra dimension of flavor:
- chopped spinach
- chopped sundried tomatoes
- fresh basil
- toasted pine nuts