Sunday, November 12, 2006

Continuing the parade of favorite dishes...


... comes this oldie but goodie. This recipe, tantalizingly called Fettucine and Tofu with Finger-Licking Peanut Sauce, is quick to throw to together and easily modified to whatever ingredients are on hand. You'll notice the broccoli in my picture, and the absence of broccoli in the recipe. And I didn't have scallions - so no scallions were harmed in the making of my dish. I only had baby carrots, and so I roughly chopped them and skipped the grating step. When I've made this dish in the past, I've thrown in various vegetables from the vegetable drawer with little impact on the overall recipe. If you were putting in significantly more veggies then called for, you may want to consider doubling the sauce. But generally I find the proportion of sauce to noodles appropriate (and I like things SAUCY!). I also brown the tofu in a skillet before adding. That's my personal preference, but I don't think I personally would enjoy the dish as much if the tofu weren't browned and cooked. And I've used whole wheat fettucine, regular fettucine, spaghetti (whole wheat or regular) and various other incarnations of pasta. I don't think the dish would work with shapes like rigatoni or farfalle, but anything long and noodley would sub very well

This time, I served the noodles with vegetarian Thai dumplings and sauteed greens. And the entire dish went from prep to eat in about 40 minutes, which isn't too bad at all for a weeknight.

Fettuccine and Tofu with Finger-Licking Peanut Sauce
Cooking Light

1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup chunky peanut butter
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger
2 teaspoons chile paste with garlic
4 garlic cloves, minced
8 ounces uncooked fettuccine
1 pound firm tofu, drained and cubed
1 cup (2-inch) sliced green onions
1 cup shredded carrot

Combine first 8 ingredients in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat 5 minutes or until smooth, stirring frequently. Remove from heat.

Cook pasta in boiling water 8 minutes, omitting salt and fat. Add tofu, onions, and carrot; drain. Place pasta mixture in a large bowl. Add peanut butter mixture; toss gently.

5 comments:

kickpleat said...

yum, i love tofu, peanut sauce and noodles and have made something similar in the past. i think i'll try out your recipe soon as i've got some xfirm tofu just waiting to be used.

Heather said...

Kickpleat - I hope you do try this recipe because it is definitely our favorite. And it is hard to go wrong with a peanut butter/noodle/tofu combo so that's saying a lot!

Lorelie said...

i love noodles and i love peanut sauce. can't wait to try this one.

Anonymous said...

how can you cook vegetarian food if you use chicken broth?

Heather said...

Anonymous -

I always sub vegetable broth. I just forgot to mention it this time. It's such an automatic response that I don't even notice it in recipes anymore. But thanks for reminding me!