Gremolata Pasta for Two

I made this for dinner this evening. I like that all my veggies are in this dish, although if you were extra good, you could add a salad. I was experimenting with adding tofu to what would otherwise be a cheese-heavy dish. I love cheese, but it contains too much fat, forcing me to use it sparingly in everyday cooking.

Gremolata is a lovely concoction that combines parsley, lemon zest and garlic. It is very fresh tasting and very easy to make. For this dish, I used a fine-herb infused tofu, which made the cubes chicken-like. When cooked, the tofu was not really distinguishable from the tasteless factory-farmed chicken you buy in the supermarket. I know that this doesn't sell the tofu, but I enjoyed its chewy goodness knowing that no creature suffered for my protein requirements.

This dish takes less than 30 minutes to make. Since almost everything is cooked at once, I recommend you prepare all the ingredients beforehand, just like they do on cooking shows. In fact, pretend you are in a cooking show and invite someone from the audience to share the final result with you.

Ingredients

• 1/2 package organic firm tofu
• dash of canola oil
• 1 red pepper (chopped)
• 4 medium tomatoes (chopped)
• 1 cup chopped parsely
• 2 cloves chopped garlic
• rind from one lemon
• 3 cups dry wholewheat pasta
• 2 tbs grated cheese

Directions

1. Cut the tofu in small cubes. Heat canola oil on medium high heat. Add tofu and let brown on all sides. A nonstick pan works well for this. When brown on all sides, let drain on paper towels.
2. Heat water in pot large enough to cook pasta. When water comes to boil, add pasta. Cook for 10 minutes.
3. While pasta cooks, in the same pan in which you cooked the tofu, add the red peppers. Cook on medium high heat for one or two minutes, until peppers are noticeably wilted.
4. Add the tomatoes and cook for another six minutes or so.
5. Add chopped parsley, lemon rind and crushed garlic. Stir and remove from heat.
6. Drain pasta and toss with cooked tofu and sauce. Sprinkle with the cheese.