Pasta Primavera with Creamy Cauliflower Sauce

Gary got the chance to go on an adventure not too long ago by accompanying me on a trip to Halifax to visit my momma bear. While there, we decided it would be a good opportunity to try out a new recipe, given that a new house means new ingredients. And who doesn't love coming home to a home cooked meal at the end of the day?

It was a bit hard to find a vegetarian recipe with the ingredients that we had, mostly because they were quite different than the ones we keep on hand at home. But we stumbled upon this recipe for Pasta Primavera with Cream Cauliflower Sauce and actually had all the ingredients! That is, except fresh basil leaves, which we never have on hand at home either. Anyway, let's see how this goes...

We started by cutting up all our veggies and took our grand ole time. We put all the veggies in a large skillet and starting warming that up, and in the meantime, we started boiling our cauliflower in a large pot.

Mmm, smells delicious! 

 Did I mention my mom's pots and pans are actually quite nice compared to ours? We have definitely got to start buying grown-up things now that we're living in the adult world!

Gary thinks it's weird that these trees are white. Are they winter trees?

After the cauliflower was completely cooked, we smooshed it with the help of my mother's blender (that one though, did not work as well as our own blender, although our was a hand-me-down from the step-sister). We had to add quite a bit of water to help get the right sauce texture, and even at that, we were a bit disappointed with the results.

But we added the sauce to the veggies, regardless. And here's how it all turned out:

As you can see, it's pretty thick, not quite as saucy as it seems in the originally recipe. And I wouldn't go as far as to describe it by using the word "creamy." But it smelled quite good, so we surprise momma bear when she got home and served it up for the whole family. 

Pasta Primavera with Creamy Cauliflower Sauce

Prep time: 10-15 minutes / Cook time: 20 minutes

Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients: 

• 1 box of long noodle pasta (we chose spaghetti)
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 2-4 cups various vegetables (we went with carrots, mushrooms, snow peas, and brocoli)
• 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese
• Pepper, to taste
• Parmesan cheese, for topping

Directions: 

For the sauce

Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, chop the cauliflower into quarters. Chop off the florets and cut the stems into approximately 1" pieces so that the cauliflower cooks uniformly.

Place chopped cauliflower into boiling water for 3-6 minutes, until the stems can be easily poked through with a fork.

Remove cauliflower from pot, and place in a blender or food processor. Puree the cauliflower until it is smooth, adding water only if necessary.

For the veggies

1. Fill a large pot with water; bring to a boil. Cook noodles al dente according to the directions on the package.
2. Meanwhile, melt butter in a large skillet. Add chopped garlic and onion and cook on low until garlic is light brown and onions are slightly translucent.
3. Add vegetables including broccoli stems (if using), except florets, and cook until just barely tender.
4. Add creamy cauliflower sauce, shredded cheese and stir until cheese melts. Add water from the noodles, ¼ cup at a time, as needed to thin the sauce. Keep sauce on low until the noodles are done.
5. When the noodles are done, combine them with the sauce along with florets in the skillet. Toss to coat the pasta well. Season with pepper, serve hot with freshly shredded Parmesan cheese.

Original recipe: http://dontwastethecrumbs.com/2014/01/recipe-pasta-primavera-creamy-cauliflower-sauce/

So just now, as I was writing up the blog spot, I noticed that the directions said to add water from the noodles to thin the sauce as needed. That probably would have helped get better results. Oops.

Rating: 7.5/10 

It tasted quite bland, and the sauce was much too thick. However, I wouldn't go as far as to say it would not be worth trying, especially given the fact that I missed the tip about how to thin out the sauce if it wasn't the correct consistency. I would definitely add some spices though, because it doesn't taste like much other than the veggies themselves and a bit of cheese. 

Pineapple Tofu Stir Fry

Gary and I are not the biggest fans of citrus foods but seeing as the man of the house loves it and also loves stir fry, we thought we would give it a try. We present to you: Pineapple Tofu Stir Fry.

We started off as we always do, by cutting up all our ingredients. Holy pineapple Batman!

Note to self: A full pineapple is way too much for this recipe. 

Just so you are all aware, the original recipe calls for a can of pineapple chunks, but we prefer fresh fruits so we went out a bought a whole pineapple for this recipe - and as snacks for many days to come. 

Oh, and we also decided we would just go ahead and not make the recommended sauce for the recipe. That may actually have impacted the final results in a large way, but I guess we'll have to cook it again at a later date to find out about that. 

After having prepared everything else for the recipe, we got right down to the cooking.

Tip: Remember to prepare the tofu in advance. Ours was not crispy enough in the end because I didn't start frying it before the rest of the meal.

Pineapple Tofu Stir Fry

Prep time: 10 minutes / Cook time: 35 minutes 

Makes 2-3 servings

Ingredients: 

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 package extra-firm tofu, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1/2 of a fresh pineapple, cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 2 tsp minced ginger
• 1 large bell pepper, cut into bite-sized pieces
• Sweet Red Chili Thai Sauce

Directions: 

1. In a large skillet, fry up the tofu in olive oil. Let cook for 10-20 minutes, flipping every so often, until golden brown.
2. Transfer tofu to bowl. In same pan, add olive oil if needed and start cooking garlic and ginger, stirring constantly, for about 30 seconds. Add bell pepper and cook until just tender, 2-3 minutes.  
3. Transfer tofu from bowl to pan, and add tofu chunks. Pour sauce over all the ingredients and cook until pineapple is heated through, 2-3 minutes. 

Original recipe: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/pineapple_tofu_stir_fry.html

Rating: Richard - 9/10    Carmen - 7/10

Richard really liked this recipe and found the taste to be well balanced between sweet and savoury. As for myself, I am not a big fan of tangy flavours in general and found that it was not a good ingredients to be found in stir fries or curries. It reminds me a lot of a Mango Curry recipe, which I was not very fond of as well, for the same reason. I did love the switch of sauce though - can't get enough of our new purchase, a sweet red chili Thai sauce.