Homemade Tortellini

Wow - this was a time-consuming dish! Again, I am on my Conscious Cook kick! Always super-detailed recipes but yummola! I made a lot of modifications and they turned out great. I have made this dish before but only sort of! Last time I cheated and used wonton skins to make the raviolis intead of making my own dough. The homemade dough made a huge difference and they turned out far better. A very rich and satisfying dish. Keith (my 4 yr old) even helped make them. We stuffed his with a different filling (corn and lima beans at his request!!). A fun experience overall but I am pooped (especially since I also made a batch of "chicken" seitan this morning as well and it is happily simmering in my crock pot right now! Yep - seitan in the crockpot! Kinda funny. We'll see how it turns out!!)

My Version of "Artichoke Ricotta Tortellini with Saffron Cream Sauce" (Source: Conscious Cook)

For pasta dough:
4 oz silken tofu
2 T olive oil
1/2 t sea salt
2 cups flour plus more for dusting

In a food processor, blend tofu, oil, salt, and 4 T water. Slowly add flour until soft dough forms. Add more flour or water if necessary to create a dough that is pliable but not too sticky. Knead for about 5 min. Wrap in plastic wrap and refridgerate for 30 min. Remove from fridge and roll out as thinly as possible. Use a large biscuit cutter and cut rounds of dough until all dough is gone. Place rounds on floured baking sheet and set aside until filling is ready.

For Filling:
1 T olive oil
2 garlic cloves
1 8oz box mushrooms, minced (I used these instead of artichoke hearts as I used my artichoke hearts for the paella yesterday!)
1/4 cup faux chicken broth
1 cup cashew cream
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
fresh cracked black pepper

In a skillet, heat oil. Add garlic and cook 3 min. Add mushrooms and broth. Cook until liquid is reduced by 1/2. Add cashew cream, yeast and pepper and cook until hot and thick. Set aside.

For Saffron Cream Sauce:
1 T olive oil
1 onion, minced
1/2 cup faux chicken broth
1 cup cashew cream
2 pinches saffron threads
freshly cracked black pepper
2 T Earth Balance

Heat oil in skillet. Add onion. Cook 10 min. Add broth and cook 5 min. Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Keep warm.

To assemble tortellini, take a dough round and fill with 1 t filling. Fold in half and crimp sides to seal. Place on floured baking sheet. Continue with remaining dough and filling. Heat a large pot with water and bring to boil. Add tortellini and bring back to boil. Boil for 3 min. Remove from pan and let drain in collander. Top with saffron cream sauce.