I put this high protein dip on everything.

Get the recipes at NYT Cooking (gift links)!

⭐️ Whipped Tofu Ricotta recipe: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1027084-whipped-tofu-ricotta?unlocked_article_code=1.YE8.oITT.f2oBnq6rvAaj&smid=share-url

🍅 Heirloom Tomato Salad recipe: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1027087-heirloom-tomato-salad-with-ricotta-and-chile-oil?unlocked_article_code=1.YE8.-Ya9.PeDOvXgK4aSZ&smid=share-url

🥒 Jammy Zucchini recipe: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1027085-jammy-zucchini?unlocked_article_code=1.YE8.csZ4.DEg8r-DpeknL&smid=share-url

For the other recipes in this video, scroll down ⬇️
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👩🏽‍🍳 MY COOKBOOK: Big Vegan Flavor is now available—and it’s a New York Times Bestseller! 🎉 Learn how to master vegan cooking in this comprehensive 600-page “vegan flavor bible” and enjoy 150 globally inspired, flavor-forward recipes! Grab your copy here: https://rainbowplantlife.com/bigveganflavor/
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🍞RICOTTA ON TOAST WITH GREENS
▪️Whipped Tofu Ricotta (as much as you want)
▪️Bread of choice, toasted
▪️Arugula (or soft salad greens of choice)
▪️Sprouts of choice (optional)
▪️Good-quality extra virgin olive oil and vinegar of choice
▪️Sea salt & black pepper
▪️Pickled onions (recipe on page 168 of Big Vegan Flavor)
▪️Agave nectar (optional)

1. Spread tofu ricotta onto toast. Toss the greens and sprouts with olive oil and vinegar until lightly dressed and season with salt and pepper. Pile the greens on top of the ricotta, top with pickled onions, a tiny drizzle of agave nectar, and another pinch of salt.

🍝 RICOTTA STUFFED SHELLS
▪️30 jumbo pasta shells
▪️Kosher salt
▪️Extra virgin olive oil
▪️5 oz (140g) baby spinach
▪️1 batch Whipped Tofu Ricotta
▪️3 oz (85g) oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained & chopped
▪️2 tsp dried oregano, more as desired
▪️½ tsp red pepper flakes
▪️½ cup (50g vegan parmesan cheese
▪️24 oz jar (680g) of your fave marinara sauce
▪️1 handful flat-leaf parsley or basil, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF/175ºC.
2. Cook jumbo pasta shells in a large pot of generously salted boiling water until just al dente. Drain, then drizzle with a little olive oil to prevent sticking.
3. Saute the baby spinach in a large frying pan over medium heat with a drizzle of olive oil until just wilted. Season with a pinch of salt.
4. In a large bowl, fold together ricotta with sauteed spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, oregano, red pepper flakes, parm, and a few twists of pepper. Spoon the ricotta filling into each pasta shell.
5. Pour ~ half of the marinara into the bottom of a 13×9” (3L) baking pan. Arrange stuffed shells on top. Pour remaining sauce on top.
6. Bake for 25 minutes. For browning, pop under the broiler for a few minutes, keeping a close eye, until lightly browned on top. Garnish with chopped herbs.

🥗 🍕 HERBY SALAD FLATBREADS
▪️1 med shallot, very thinly sliced (mandoline)
▪️2 tsp sumac
▪️1 ½ TBSP champagne vinegar
▪️Sea salt
▪️15 oz (425g) can cannellini beans, drained & rinsed
▪️Good-quality extra virgin olive oil
▪️2 tsp za’atar
▪️1 ½ cups (24g) fresh basil, mint, and/or parsley leaves
▪️2 large flatbreads (I used Brooklyn Bred thin pizza crust)
▪️ Whipped Tofu Ricotta (enough for 2 large flatbreads)

1. In a small bowl, combine shallots, sumac, vinegar, and a pinch of salt. Massage with your hands and marinate for at least 10 minutes, stirring once or twice.
2. Preheat oven to 400ºF / 205ºC. Arrange a rack in the top third of the oven and on the bottom.
3. Toss beans with 2 to 3 tsp olive oil, or enough to coat, and za’atar. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Marinate for 5 to 10 minutes.
4. Tear the fresh herbs with your hands and add to the marinated shallots. Mix in a drizzle of olive oil plus a pinch of salt & pepper. Adjust until it tastes bright, tart, and fresh.
5. Bake flatbreads on oven rack or sheet pan for 4 to 5 minutes until warmed and slightly crisp but not hard.
6. Slather each flatbread with Tofu Ricotta, leaving a thin border around the edges. Bake for 1 to 2 minutes to warm ricotta.
7. Top ricotta with Za’atar Beans and Herby Salad. Drizzle with olive oil and finish with flaky sea salt. Slice into smaller pieces.
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🔑 KEY MOMENTS
00:00 Introduction
00:20 Exciting announcement!
00:49 Making the dip
04:20 Top 5 ways for using the dip
04:32 Recipe 1
04:58 Recipe 2
05:53 Recipe 3
06:47 Recipe 4
07:43 Recipe 5
08:37 How to access the recipes!

– Today I’m sharing
the high-protein spread I put on pretty much everything, and despite what it looks
like, this is not hummus. Let me introduce you to
whipped tofu ricotta. This stuff is wildly delicious,
but super quick and easy. I’m gonna show you how to make it, plus my top five ways for using it, so you’ll have tons of inspiration. But first, a very exciting announcement. The first step of the
recipe is very simple. You’re gonna grab your
block of extra firm tofu. It’s packed in water, so you
wanna go ahead and drain that. And just gently pat dry your tofu block. No need to press it. That is the beauty of this recipe. We’re not trying to crisp up the tofu, so we don’t need to
extract any excess water. The prep is super quick. Another time-saving benefit of this recipe is that the food processor
does all the work for you. So we’re just going to crumble our tofu roughly into the bowl. So tofu is a blank canvas and
it needs a lot of seasoning. So now we’re gonna start layering flavor boosters into our tofu. First up, we’re gonna roughly chop a couple cloves of garlic. I like to chop it just so
that I don’t accidentally get any unblended raw garlic in my bite, because that would be not great. Zest one medium lemon
directly into the bowl, because it has this floral brightness that really just brightens
up the whole ricotta. And I’m gonna juice about two
tablespoons of lemon juice directly in here. A little bit more. Next up, nutritional yeast. You’re probably familiar
with this ingredient, but in case you’re not,
here’s the 10-second spiel. This stuff is made from the same yeast that’s used to make bread,
except that it’s deactivated. And that deactivation process actually produces the
naturally occurring glutamates which are responsible
for that umami flavor and that subtle cheesiness. And it’s actually quite high in protein. There’s about five grams
in two tablespoons. We’re gonna start with four
tablespoons or a quarter cup, but at the end, with pretty
much all these ingredients, you’re gonna taste and
add more as desired. We have another heavy
hitter umami ingredient, we’ve got some miso paste, and this is white miso,
which I typically prefer because it’s the mildest kind of miso, and it works really well
with plant-based ingredients that are delicate, so it’s not going to
overwhelm those flavors. A little bit of onion powder. Some freshly cracked black pepper. Just measure with your
eyes and your heart. And one teaspoon of Diamond
Crystal Kosher Salt. The reason I specify what salt I’m using is because this variety of salt is about half as salty
teaspoon for teaspoon compared to table salt. So if you’re using table salt,
use about half the amount. And if you are using sea salt, I’d say a little more
than half the amount. And now for my favorite ingredient, a glug of extra virgin olive oil. This is gonna add a rich
mouthfeel and luxuriousness that you would associate
with a dairy-based ricotta. And now we just need to blend this. Oh, step number one, you actually have to plug
in your food processor. (blender whirring) Once it starts to come together, go ahead and scrape down the sides. And then you wanna keep
blending for a minute or two until it starts to get this
creamy whipped consistency. Now this is arguably the most
important part of the recipe: you want to season to taste. If you want any more subtle cheesiness, you can add more nutritional
yeast, really good. If it needs a little more
salt, go ahead and do that. If it needs more acidity,
add some lemon juice and then just blend again. If your block of tofu
is on the larger side, let’s say 16 ounces instead of 12 ounces, you’ll probably need to tinker with the seasonings a bit more. Now, this stuff is so good,
you could eat it by the spoon. I do that quite frequently. But to get the most out of it, I like to meal prep a
batch of this on Sunday, and then I can use it in so many different
meals during the week. I’m gonna show you just how I do that, but first, let me tidy up. Maybe the best thing
about this tofu ricotta is that if you have it in the fridge, you are always just minutes away from a really delicious meal. So I wanted to share my top five ways for using this stuff in your cooking. First up, I like to pair it with toast for a super quick breakfast or lunch. Get some nice bread from your
local bakery, toast it up. Add the tofu ricotta, followed by any other toppings you like. One of my go-tos is some
lightly dressed salad greens, pickled onions, a tiny drizzle
of agave, and flaky salt. But you could also do some sliced tomatoes and pesto on top of the ricotta toast, if that’s more your thing. Speaking of tomatoes, the second way I love to use this ricotta is in the spectacular summer tomato salad with homemade chili oil. It’s kind of like a tomato burrata salad, but plant-based and a
little higher in protein. Start by making a very
simple five-minute chili oil. It’s just Aleppo pepper and olive oil. It’s very mild and therefore suitable for all my baby mouths out there. From there, you’re just gonna
grab some heirloom tomatoes, ideally from the farmers’ market, and cut them up into chunks, then slice some shallots and
garlic for a little punch, and then toss everything together. (mellow music) Now for serving, I like
to use an ice cream scoop to dollop out the ricotta
because it just looks very cute. Nestle in your gorgeously
seasoned tomatoes and drizzle the whole
thing with that chili oil, plus some aged balsamic vinegar. And of course, some fresh basil. It is hard to think of a better appetizer in summer than this. But our next dish might actually give this
one a run for its money, and that is whipped tofu ricotta with jammy zucchini on top, plus fresh mint and pistachio dust. This is another dish where if
you make it for your guests, they’re gonna think it’s incredibly fancy. They’ll never know how easy it is. The basic idea is that you
cook down some chopped zucchini and garlic in a hot cast iron skillet until the zucchini breaks
down and gets nicely brown, almost caramelized and jammy in texture. And while that’s going on, you can make some magic pistachio dust, which is just roasted salted pistachios that you’ve pulverized
in your spice grinder or food processor. To serve, make a comfortable
bed of tofu ricotta. Top it with your jammy zucchini, pistachio dust, and fresh mint. It is outrageously good, and yes, it has been known to convert even the most ardent zucchini skeptics. Now, in just a minute, I will
explain where you can get all of the recipes in today’s video. But first, I wanna share how you can use this
ricotta in two main courses. First up, we have a very classic option: baked stuffed shells. To spice up the ricotta
filling for the shells, I like to add in some
chopped sun-dried tomatoes, and then a bag of baby spinach
that I just lightly sauteed, a bit of dried oregano
and red pepper flakes, and some vegan Parm. But you can kind of mix
in whatever you like or whatever you have on hand. Grab a baking dish and layer on some good
quality marinara sauce. And then you’ll stuff some
of your cooked jumbo shells with the ricotta filling and tuck them in like they’re
going in for a long nap. Blanket them with another
layer of marinara, and you’ll bake this in
the oven at 350 Fahrenheit for about 25 minutes. Finish with chopped
parsley or fresh basil, and you have yourself the
most comforting dinner. Last but not least, this
ricotta makes an incredible base for homemade flatbread pizzas. And in terms of toppings, you can kind of go in
any direction you like. But a recent favorite of mine are these Middle Eastern
inspired flatbreads. I start by making the
sumac pickled shallots, and while those marinate
for a few minutes, I zhuzh up some canned
cannellini beans with olive oil and a few teaspoons of za’atar. Then I tear up a mix of
different soft herbs. I have basil, parsley, and mint today, and combine them with
the marinated shallots for a bright and fresh herby salad. Toast your favorite flatbread in the oven just to crisp it up a bit. Then slather on the ricotta and briefly warm that in the oven. Then you can add your
beans and herb salad, and you’ve got yourself
another very simple but very gourmet meal. (soft music) You can find the recipe for
the whipped tofu ricotta, as well as the tomato salad
and the jammy zucchini, all over at nytcooking.com. I’ve left gift links in
the description box below for those recipes, which means
you can access them for free. Thanks so much for watching, and I’ll see you in the next one. Bye.