Creamy Sun Dried Tomato and Tofu Pasta

Tofu can be a pretty divisive. Vegans tend to like it, but die-hard meat fans mock it. The middle is the place to be, as with most things. I've always been pretty cool with adventure, food or otherwise. How do you know if you don't try?

Vegan food in particular has come a long way. It's grown immensely in popularity in recent years, with data estimating the global market value growing $18.1B per year from 2022-2027. I'm sure we've all witnessed this as restaurants have introduced more plant-based burgers, coffee shops have introduced more plant-based milks, and so on. I find some of the hyper-processed stuff that has come out to be counterintuitive, however I have had some amazing foods like beet and lentil sausage (no kidding, this was amazing). Tofu adds so much flexibility to dishes to make them flavorful, add texture, and keep them vegan.

I'll let Mallory dig into the health aspects momentarily. But did tofu arise in recent years in response to a need for more vegan and vegetarian options? Definitely not. Potentially the most interesting thing about tofu is it's history. To the meat fanatics: it's been around longer than the United States, and maybe longer than we've been eating chickens (which, you should definitely listen to how badly farmers in San Francisco floundered to keep chickens alive when they first decided to farm them on The Dollop).

Bean curd's first published mention (this linked article is fantastic and has a deep dive) is around 950 AD, though it's expected to have been used long before this. The word "tofu" is Japanese, and was utilized just before 1200. In East Asia, tofu is ingrained into diet and culture, like meat is in western countries. Tofu itself more than likely originated in China, replacing or supplementing meat for many. 

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And now, a word from Mallory!

Mmm bean curd. Doesn’t that name just make your mouth water? Well, it should! This bean curd, otherwise known as tofu, is a popular plant-based protein made from soybeans. Need I say more? You know I will! 

Tofu is a versatile, nutrient-dense food that offers a range of health benefits. A 100-gram serving of firm tofu provides 35% of the Recommended Daily Allowance of calcium! That’s the same as one whole cup of plain yogurt. What a steal! 

Tofu is also a good source of essential amino acids and provides some omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. It's low in cholesterol and contains beneficial plant compounds like isoflavones, which have been linked to various healthy benefits. 

As a bonus, isoflavones are relatively stable under heat, so cooking tofu will cause minimal adverse effects to its isoflavone content. Sign me up!

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I'm no stranger to firm tofu, with General Tsofu being one of my favorites. I tend to marinate it, slice it, then either cook it in the air fryer or in a skillet before adding it to a dish. But silken tofu? Way out of my wheelhouse. What do I do with it?? Turns out you can use it in a sauce, kind of like a cream. Mind blown. It's also used in smoothies, but I'm more keen to cooking with it for now.

For this sauce, I used an Instagram recipe. I'm inundated with those these days, sometimes to an overwhelming degree (so. much. cottage cheese). But I do a bit of saving and this time, making. This one is a breeze! I just tossed the tofu, veggie broth, pasta water (you can also use more pasta water instead of broth) roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, garlic, tomato paste, nutritional yeast (our cheese alternative), crushed red pepper, paprika, parsley, salt, and pepper to my blender (or food processor) and mixed until smooth. Side note: it may be easier to soak the sun dried tomatoes in water for 20 minutes or so if you get them in a bag so that they are soft and easy to blend.

Once it was all smooth, it was ready to be sauce. Reminded me a bit of roasted red pepper hummus in appearance.

I cooked some pasta separately, using some of the starchy water in the sauce (we discussed this in my recent Fettucine Alfredo post). I chose to pour this sauce into a pan and heat it for 5-10 minutes over medium, but you can also just mix in the hot pasta and it will warm. I added some fresh mozzarella atop mine.

And let me tell you: I bet no one would know this was tofu. 

The ingredients have so much flavor and this was a filling and healthy dinner. Even if you don't think you like the taste of tofu, I'd recommend giving this one a try because the sun dried tomatoes and roasted red peppers give it so much extra.

Creamy Roasted Red Pepper and Tofu Pasta Recipe

Ingredients:

1 package (16 ounces) silken tofu

1/2 cup vegetable broth

1/4-1/2 cup pasta water, as needed

4 garlic cloves (or 4 teaspoons minced garlic)

1 bag (3 ounces) sun dried tomatoes

6 ounces roasted red peppers (about half a jar)

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

3/4 teaspoon dried parsley (or 2 teaspoons fresh)

1/2 teaspoon paprika

2 cups cooked pasta (reserve 1/2-1 cup water)

Instructions:

Cook pasta and reserve some of the water (about 1 cup). Drain pasta and return to pot. In a blender or food processor, add tofu, veggie broth, pasta water (you can also use more pasta water instead of broth) roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, garlic, tomato paste, nutritional yeast, crushed red pepper, paprika, parsley, salt, and pepper and blend until smooth. Mix in with pasta and heat for 3-5 minutes.