More Pesto

Wednesday's are the day when I have my night film class, so I always plan ahead and make something that I can easily bring to class. I've found that it's really easy to bring things like pasta dishes, huge salads, or leftovers that would be tasty at room temperature. This week featured more of that almond pesto that I made the other week. I don't make pesto often, but it's always great when I do because I have so much leftover.

Here's a useful tip for saving pesto: scoop the leftovers in an ice cube tray, cover with plastic wrap and freeze. You can pop out the pesto cubes, put them in a baggie, and store in the freezer to use as needed. Whenever I want some, I just pull out a cube and let it defrost in the fridge. Perfectly portioned pesto!

Anyway, here's what was featured in this week's class dinner:


Pesto pasta salad with herb grilled tofu
Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked pasta of choice
- 1 serving herb tofu (recipe to follow)
- 1-2 tbsp pesto
- 1 Roma tomato, diced
- S&P, to taste

Instructions
- Toss everything together and chill until serving. Dinner in minutes.

Serves 1


Herb tofu
Ingredients
- 1 block extra firm tofu
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1/2 tsp each dried basil, oregano, parsley and thyme
- S&P, to taste

Instructions
- Slice tofu into desired shape. I just made 1/2" thick tofu "steaks" because I find those easier to marinate.
- Combine marinade ingredients in a shallow bowl or tupperware container. Add tofu and turn once, allowing both sides to get a quick coat. Allow to marinate at least one hour, turning tofu every 15 minutes or so.
- Grill for 3-5 minutes on both sides. Alternatively, you could bake the tofu or pan sear it until brown. Cut into bite-sized cubes before adding to the pasta salad.




While I do enjoy preparing dishes that take a while to cook because I love being in the kitchen, I look forward to making something quick and easy on Wednesdays. This came together in minutes, was extremely flavorful, and utilized simple ingredients that I already had on hand. The most labor intensive part was the herb tofu, which was entirely worth it because it made the dish (good thing I have a bunch leftover because I have this sneaking suspicion it'd make a great sandwich stuffer).