Zucchini Involtini with Basil Cashew Ricotta & Marinara

THESE!!!!! I have gone and impressed myself with this dish and am pumped to share it with y'all. 

Involtini is an Italian word for small bites of food consisting of an outer layer wrapped around a filling. Traditionally the outer layer can be meat, seafood or vegetable based. Obviously I went the veg route, and chose zucchini, though eggplant or lasagna noodles would work here too. 

For the filling, I made the most lovely vegan ricotta with soaked cashews, a bit of tofu, lemon, nutritional yeast and fresh basil. The zucchini is sliced on a mandolin and given a quick sear in a cast iron pan so they are pliable. You then just spoon some of the filling onto the end of each zucchini slice, roll em up and bake them on top of my easy & delicious marinara sauce. To finish the dish I garnish it with garlicky panko crumbs and extra basil. I served whole wheat aglio e olio on the side and greens dressed with a balsamic vinaigrette. SO GOOD. Some crusty bread on the side would be a good addition...or even I could see serving the baked cheesy zucchini JUST with crusty bread. Really any combination would work. I would totally just smash the cheesy zucchini rolls onto my bread and dunk in marinara. yum. yum. yum. 

I'm going to say this recipe serves 3-4 people. I usually make double the amount of ricotta because I like to have leftovers and smear it on toast for breakfast or lunch. Throw some sauteed mushrooms or roasted red peppers on there? Hell ya.
If you are feeding a family though, it probably wouldn't hurt to just double everything. (ricotta, sauce, number of zucchini needed.) Especially if, like me, leftovers are your jam. You could bake them in two small round or square pans like pictured, or just use a large rectangle/ lasagna pan. 

Recipes

Cashew Tofu Basil Ricotta

Ingredients

• 1 cup cashews, soaked in water to soften for a few hours or overnight then strained.​
• 1/4 cup hot water
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• 1-2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp miso paste
• 1/4 block firm tofu
• 1/4 cup chopped basil
• flaked kosher salt and black pepper. (I started with 3/4 tsp flaked kosher salt then seasoned a bit more to taste after that. Table salt you'd probably need less.)

Method:

1. ​Blend all ingredients together except for the basil. I usually start with the cashews and add things one at a time. Scraping down sides. Get mixture as smooth as possible. 
2. Taste and adjust salt and pepper and lemon. I like it to taste a bit salty. 
3. Now fold in the chopped basil. 
   
4. Refrigerate until ready to use. I think the flavour does improve if it has time to hang out for a bit in the fridge. 
   

Marinara
Ingredients:

• 1 small onion, small dice (225 g)
• 1/4 tsp chile flakes 
• 3 - 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 can whole unsalted tomatoes
  
• 1 x 5.5 oz can tomato paste 
• 1.5 tsp salt (or to taste)​

Method:

• Sweat onion in a generous swirl of extra virgin olive oil over medium heat until softened. Add chili flakes and garlic. Cook and stir a couple more minutes.
• Add tomato paste, stir and "cook out" tomato paste for a few minutes. 
  
• Add can of whole tomatoes. Use a potato masher and crush them as much as you can, there will still be some small chunks. Add a "tomato can" full of water and season with salt.
• Cook this out over medium heat. I don't babysit it at this point. I'll go do another task and come back to give it a stir here and there. Just let everything cook together while the water reduces down. 
• If you want your sauce to be a bit smoother, you can use an immersion blender to puree sauce a bit. 
• When sauce is has reduced and thickened, you can remove from heat and let cool completely. 

Zucchini & Assembly

Ingredients:

• 3-4 zucchini, sliced 1/4 inch thick on a mandolin 
• a bit of veg oil for cooking zucchini
• marinara
• cashew basil ricotta
• extra basil for garnish
• garlic panko crumbs for garnish

Method

1. Lay your zucchini slices on a large kitchen towel. (I didn't even trim my zucchini before slicing on mandolin. I just washed them well.) Sprinkle with a bit of flaked kosher salt. This will help release liquid. Let sit 10 minutes then pat dry. 
2. In a cast iron pan, heat a small amount of veg oil. You don't need much in a cast iron pan. When the pan is good and hot you can start cooking the zucchini. The idea isn't to completely cook them. You just want them to be pliable. They will cook more in the oven later. So add a few pieces at a time to your pan, sear on each side. Don't over cook them. You can kind of test it by trying to bend the zucchini strip. If it seems like it will snap, it needs a bit more time. As soon as it seems like you could roll it up, remove it from the heat and place on a plate to cool. 
3. When all zucchini is cooked, cool completely in the refrigerator. 
4. Roll up the zucchini: Just spoon a tablespoon or so of the filling onto one end of each piece of zucchini and roll them up. Easy peasy. 
5. Add cooled marinara to baking dish. Place zucchini rolls on top in an even layer.
6. Bake in a 425F oven until the sauce is bubbling. Start with 30 minutes. Leave it a bit longer if needed.
7. Remove from oven. Sprinkle liberally with garlicky panko crumbs, and fresh basil.
8. Serve with whole grain spaghetti. 1 box worked out with the amount of zucchini I had. Spaghetti can be served plain, but I also enjoyed it with spaghetti aligo e olio. I just omitted the mushrooms in my recipe that I have linked, but keeping them in couldn't hurt.