Tofu Pesto for a Rainy Day

I started working again so I'm getting back into the swing of things this week. Luckily, it's a part-time Virtual Assistant job that I found on oDesk. So far, I'm really enjoying it because during my alone hours I can get a little work done (thus feeling accomplished and financially viable), whip up some sort of homemade dish (satisfying my need to 'homemake'), and stay in my pajamas as long as I want. It also cuts down on the amount of free time that I have to secretly indulge in my worst habit - reading wedding blogs. ugh. Why do I torture myself so?

It's also nice because I can turn off work whenever I need/want to. And I can still make dollars (though far fewer). So yay for a job that I feel comfortable with! And on to the food...

We had a crazy summer storm here the other day - it hailed! (I know you can't really tell from this shaky pic, but those are hail stones next to my rosemary.)

And this lightning was non-stop.

(de Rosario 3)

Watching the storm was like gawking at a train wreck, we just couldn't look away. And so instead of cooking, we grabbed a bottle of beer, peanuts and sandwich makings, along with this tofu peso, and starred out the window. The recipe that I used as a guide calls for a pound of tofu, but I had about 300 grams so the measurements below reflect my adjustments. Nothing needs to be exact, though; it's an easy-going dish.


Almond Basil Pesto

• 1/2 c. - 3/4 c. fresh basil (that's all I had)
  
• 1/4 c. almonds, roughly chopped
• 1 large garlic clove, briefly sauted (I prefer the cooked flavor to raw garlic, but it's up to you)
  
• 3 T. Parmesan (or Reggianito) cheese, grated
• Dash of S & P
  
• 2 - 3 T. EVOO (I hope Rachel Ray didn't trademark this)
  

Put everything but the EVOO into a food processor or blender and process until finely chopped. Stream in EVOO while continuing to process until combined.

Tofu Pesto

• 1 small onion, chopped
  
• 1 T EVOO
• 300 g. tofu, patted dry
• 1 small tomato, chopped
  
• S & P to taste

Saute onion in oil on med-low heat until translucent (about 5 minutes), crumble in tofu and add tomato, continue to cook, stirring often, for another 5 minutes or until tofu is browned to your preference. Fold in pesto and cook 2 minutes. I let it rest for about 2 hours at room temperature before digging in.

This would make a delicious version of bruschetta. We started eating it on top of crackers until we stopped ourselves and made it more dinner-like by crafting open face sandwiches. It was delish served along with beer and peanuts but you could definitely fancy this up.