Tamar & Greg's Vegan Italy

New assignment for you tv watchers: Lidia Bastianich on Lidia's Italy. Her recipes are always so simple, and more importantly, give great ideas for vegan interpretation!

On one of our typical weeknights on the couch, Lidia was making what she called a "pesto sauce" for her homemade pasta. However, the pesto sauce was not what we had expected - ricotta, walnuts, salt, pepper and parmesan cheese. It looked amazing, and given that tofu is often used as a substitute for ricotta, we thought why not? We had tofu in the fridge, a handful of pecans left in the cupboard, and some pasta and veggies.

Tofu Pecan Pasta (vegan)

1/4 cup pecans
1/2 lb firm tofu - equal to half of a vacuum sealed package
non-dairy milk for consistency
1 tsp or more lemon juice
1 tsp olive oil
3/4 TBSP nutritional yeast
Plenty of salt; pepper to taste
additional suggested spices for sauce: garlic powder, onion powder, basil and oregano
1/2 lb cooked pasta
Steamed or sauteed vegetables - we sauteed broccoli and tomato in a little bit of cooking spray

Press tofu between two plates and paper towel and set aside to drain. Meanwhile, grind pecans in food processor until fairly fine, but not powdery. Place pecans in bowl and set aside. Crumble tofu and put in the food processor. Carefully pulse rather than turning the machine on; you are going for ricotta consistency, which is not entirely smooth. As you pulse, add rice or soy milk in very small amounts. Tofu should be close to liquid form but still clumpy.
Mix the tofu in a bowl with the pecans, and add remaining ingredients. Since tofu is so bland, we were not shy about the salt quantity - you want to get just the right amount so that you can bring out all the flavors without having to sit with a large jug of water.
Drizzle the pasta, sauce and veggie mixture with a little bit of olive oil.

Vegan Stuffed Squash Blossoms

Squash "Blossoms" are a really great versatile shell for stuffing, and more importantly, act as the eponymous donor to the finest supper club in all of Brooklyn (the Mayim Bialik Supper Club, of course). The blossoms have a very light flavor, while adding a wonderfully tender and subtle outer skin. This stuffing recipe is very easy, inexpensive, and delicioso.

Tofu Filling (vegan)

1 package of flavored extra-firm tofu pressed and drained* (we used garlic and pepper)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast (use more as needed)
1/2 cup chopped fresh oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper or paprika
1/2 tsp liquid smoke

After the tofu has been drained and pressed, mash well until there's a mostly smooth consistency with small chunks throughout. Add nutritional yeast and stir. Continue with other ingredients, tasting small amounts throughout to ensure the balancing of flavors.

Stuffing the blossoms was tricky. We thought we could use a makeshift "pastry bag" (which was a sandwich bag with a small hole cut out on the bottom corner), but turns out using your fingers works best... Once they're stuffed, spray a frying pan with some cooking spray and fry the blossoms for about 1.5 min on each side. Season with a little salt and pepper.

This recipe can have endless variations, so if you find one that works and tastes good, please share.

*Greg's 15min drained and pressed tofu works wonders if you don't have time to wait: Take one clean cloth or paper towel and place it on a plate. Fold the cloth/towel into a square and lay the tofu on top so it sits about 1 inch in all directions from the outer edge of the folded cloth/towel. Take a second plate and flip it so the top-side is facing down and then place it on top of the tofu. Now use a heavy object (ie phone book or whateves) and gently place it on top of the second plate so a balanced pressure is upon the tofu. After 10min remove cloth/towel, drain bottom plate, and squeeze out excess water from cloth. Replace towel and repeat pressing for 5 more min.