19 November 2009

Hodgepodge

Hodgepodge.

That is the name of my cooking show that I have yet to star in. The Captain came up with the name after eating several dishes I concocted out of ingredients I found in the fridge. Maybe I shall never be on Food Network, but I can at least get some great recipes amassed.

Tonight's dish was inspired by the cauliflower and dinosaur kale I got at the farmer's market. I put tofu in this dish. If you ever wanted to experiment with tofu, this is a good dish to do it with because it is really masked by all of the other flavors. If you are tofu averse, however, it should be just as good with chicken.

Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower (med sized)
1 bunch dinosaur kale chopped
1/2 package of extra firm tofu
1/2 lb fusili pasta
~5 oz soft italian cheese (mine had truffles in it- quite tasty) shredded
~1/2 cup pecans
olive oil
2 cloves garlic
small bunch of fresh sage

Preheat oven to 350 F

Boil pasta, drain, and set aside. Make a pesto by grinding the garlic, pecans, sage, and enough olive oil to form a paste in a food processor. Cut tofu into 1/4 cubes and pan fry in about 2 tbsp olive oil until golden brown. Cut cauliflower into about 1 in pieces and put into pan with tofu once brown. Add about 3 tbsp of the pesto mixture to the pan and mix well to help the cauliflower cook a bit. Sautee together and add the kale after 5 min. Keep cooking until kale is slightly wilted. Add about 3 tbsp water and cover to help the process along.

In a large bowl, mix the pasta, veggie mixture, and 1/2 of the cheese. Put into a baking pan. 8 x 10 or so should be fine, 11 x 13 is probably a bit too big. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top. Bake for about 10 min, just to get the cheese bubbly- we are not looking for a crust or anything here.

Bon Appetit.

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