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Tasty tofu ricotta? Apparently so!

Pasta with tofu ricottaI love cheese. I love it by itself, mixed in sauces, as a topping, melted, sliced, shredded, string, whatever. I have had plenty of non-dairy and/or vegan cheeses in my life, and frankly none of them have been too tasty. A few nut cheeses from a raw food restaurant in the San Francisco Bay Area were good, but it was quite clear I was eating fake cheese.

All this vegan cheese disappointment ended last night. Well, maybe not all of it, but certainly in regards to ricotta.

I had a plan for pesto with penne rigate. We love pesto at my house, and I had basil, pine nuts, olive oil and parmesan on hand, but something left me feeling wanting more. I remembered seeing a ricotta recipe in my copy of Veganomicon, had some firm tofu begging to be used, so I figured what the heck. The meal was missing a decent protein source anyway.

When served, my wife did not even realize she was eating tofu cheese until I told her. She was amazed–as was I. Even the next day straight out of the refrigerator the tofu cheese had a creamy texture and wonderful, ricotta-y flavor. This is a fantastic meal for meat eaters to feed their vegetarian friends and family, or vice versa. All but those allergic to soy or wheat can enjoy this one.

Dishes like these are the type that may one day push me to be a vegan.

Recipe

I am not going to steal Isa Moskowitz’s ricotta recipe, but you can see it on Post Punk Kitchen. Gotta give the credit on this one. OK, I always will give credit, but this one extra credit.

First get the tofu pressed. If you have not done this before, slice the tofu into six equal parts, wrap them in paper towels (a lot of paper towels), place them on a plate. Then put another plate on top, as well as something else to add more weight and press the tofu. About 10 minutes should be enough. If you do not press the tofu you will have too much liquid in the finished ricotta.

Next set a pot of water on to boil. While the tofu is pressing and water boiling, set the oven to 350F and get your other ingredients together.

While the pasta is boiling, you should have enough time to make the ricotta. Follow the directions I linked to above. Also lightly toast some pine nuts in a little olive oil to add some crunchy, nuttiness to the dish.

Once the pasta is done, drain it and throw it in a 9″x13″x2″ pan. Mix in the ricotta with your hands, really covering the pasta. Sprinkle the remaining basil on top, then the pine nuts. Pour a small can of tomato sauce over the top, just enough to give a little bite to the dish.
Bake this in the oven for about 20 minutes, though I only baked it for 10 and it was great.

Ingredients

This ingredient list does not include what you will need for the Veganomicon Tofu Basil Ricotta.

  • 16 ounces penne rigate (one standard store-bought size)
  • 1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
  • 5-10 chopped basil leaves (aside from those in Isa’s recipe)
  • 1/8 cup pine nuts
  • 2 tsp olive oil

Sides

Last night I only served this with French bread, but a green salad or some lightly seasoned steamed veggies would have been fantastic, too.

March 5th, 2008 | Tags: , , , , | Category: Recipes | Comments (2)

My thoughts on the tuna controversy

Creative Commons License photo credit: mikomiko

Close-up of a pig

Wow! When I wrote about a funny conversation I had with a co-worker, I figured only my very small number of readers would see it. But the amount of traffic I have received since Thursday is amazing.

My wife thought the post was funny, so she passed it along to her Twitter friends and submitted it to StumbleUpon. Since then, I have had more than 10,000 visitors (and counting). Most of these have been from StumbleUpon, but some have visited from Reddit, Digg and a sprinkling of sites I had not previously heard of. The post also sparked several lively discussions, with 50+ comments on this blog, 19 reviews at StumbleUpon and 10 more comments at Reddit.

I responded to a few of the comments, but mostly I just watched as they kept coming in. For two days, almost every time I checked my e-mail I had more comments to moderate. I’ve really enjoyed the discussion, and I’d like to talk a bit about some of the responses I received, as well as why I posted the conversation in the first place.

A few commenters said I was closed-minded, snobbish and sarcastic. I agree with the sarcastic part. Heck, anyone who knows me will agree with the sarcastic part. My “Chicken of the Sea” comment was intended to be funny but sarcastic. As for the close-minded comments, I honestly think vegetarianism is such a hot-button issue that some could not see past that. They thought I was criticizing all meat eaters and labeling them all as unintelligent. And that’s simply not the case.

This was one conversation with one individual who showed an amazing lack of knowledge about the world she lives in and what she eats. As I’ve said in previous posts and comments, my wife is not a vegetarian. Neither are my parents, my daughter, my brother, most of my friends and relatives and many others I respect a great deal.

One of the things I was not trying to convey in this post is that some people think fish and chicken are part of a vegetarian diet (and no, by the way, they are not). If I posted on the Internet every time that happened, I’d be posting about it multiple times a day. The two things that stood out about this particular conversation were a) the person’s lack of understanding that tuna are fish … which are animals (this still blows me away) … and b) the following bacon comment:

Me: “Um, no. Bacon is meat.”
Coworker: “Really?”
Me: “Yeah. It comes from a pig. What did you think it was?”
Coworker: “I don’t know. Food?”

How can I not find some humor in these comments? Vegetarian or not, it’s funny (sad, but funny) that someone could have no idea what bacon is, other than “food.” I could eat bacon at every meal and still find that funny.

In the end, I appreciated all the responses to my post and enjoyed every one of them — especially the ones I disagreed with.

March 4th, 2008 | Tags: | Category: Discussion | Leave a comment

Boiled potatoes with veggies

Potatoes and veggiesUnfortunately my camera does this no justice. OK, maybe I just do not know how to use my camera. Regardless, the picture does not look nearly as good as these veggies did on my plate.

It was a cold, gray, and very windy night here in San Antonio, so something warm was certainly needed. The veggies looked very spring like, with bright oranges, reds and greens, but the potatoes offered a hearty fall feel.

Surprisingly I actually finished this dinner in 27 minutes, considering mid-stream I decided to take it a completely different direction. I had planned on mixing chili beans and a bunch of veggies together and topping them with mashed potatoes. For some reason the veggies did not seem to want beans mixed with them, opting for the potatoes I was boiling for the mash. I tested a potato and it was firm but cooked. I quickly pulled them off the stove, drained them, and tossed them in with the carrots, red bell pepper, and red onion I had cooking in a little olive oil, and went to work on my new plan.

Switching concepts in the middle can often be disastrous, but not tonight. My wife loved both the color and taste of these potatoes, and definitely wanted to have them in the future. Always a good sign.

Recipe

Bring about six cups water to a boil–enough to cover three medium potatoes cut into large cubes. Heat about one tablespoon olive oil over medium-low heat in a large frying pan. Once heated add the carrots and red onion. Once the carrots have softened up a bit throw in the red bell pepper. Let cook at a slow heat until the potatoes are ready to be added.

Once the boiling potatoes are firm but ready to eat–about eight minutes at full boil–drain them and add them to the veggie mix. Stir them in with the veggies to get any remaining oil coating them as well. Keep them at a low heat as you do not want to burn the dish.

Just at the point the potatoes started to stick to the bottom I used the tomato juice from a can of diced tomatoes I had used in the beans I was making. This kept the potatoes and other veggies from sticking, and gave the whole dish a very subtle tomato flavor. The potatoes really benefited from this addition. Since there were no dry spices in this dish, the potatoes ran the risk of being quite bland. A little fresh chopped cilantro and the remaining diced tomatoes in the last minute of cooking finished this dish off, both for color and flavor.

Ingredients

  • 3 medium russet potatoes, cut in large cubes
  • 6 cups water
  • 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
  • 1/3 medium red onion, chopped
  • 1/3 can of diced tomatoes, drained, with juice set aside
  • 2 carrots, sliced
  • 1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro, chopped

Sides

I served this along with some canned food, which certainly made the dinner go faster. I mixed two cans of Bush’s Mild Chili Beans, one can unsalted corn, and 2/3 can diced tomatoes. I threw about a teaspoon each of cumin, ancho chili powder, and garlic powder to change the pre-spiced chili beans up a bit. Cooked until heated and served alongside the potatoes and veggies.

March 3rd, 2008 | Tags: , , , | Category: Discussion | Leave a comment