Cooking and serving chili on its own versus slathering it on a chili dog are two very different things. In order to prevent it from blowing out all over your face, the texture and flavor must complement the dog while using fewer amounts. For use on hot dogs, this chili is the ideal double-dog-dare-you chili. Hot dogs, not franks, they are. Between the third and the fifth centuries, Franks called the Rhine’s banks home. If you must refer to them by another name except “hot dogs,” try “weinahs”; it works for us in the north.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 25 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 40 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
Ingredients
- 1 pound tri-colored spiral pasta
- 2 cups milk
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 (1.2 ounce) package creamy pesto sauce mix
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 (16 ounce) package firm tofu, drained and cubed
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 pound fresh mushrooms, coarsely chopped
- 1 cup sliced black olives
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
- 1 tablespoon capers
- 1 sprig fresh basil
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Stir in spiral pasta, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
- Blend together milk, 1/4 cup olive oil, and pesto sauce mix in a medium bowl.
- Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Place tofu in the skillet; season with salt and pepper. Cook and stir until evenly browned. Remove from heat and drain on paper towels.
- Place mushrooms into the skillet; cook about 5 minutes. Stir in olives, 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, and capers. Mix in tofu and pesto sauce. Continue cooking until heated through, about 5 minutes.
- Serve tofu pesto sauce over spiral pasta. Top with remaining Parmesan cheese and basil.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 351 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 28 g |
| Cholesterol | 7 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 18 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Sodium | 537 mg |
| Sugars | 5 g |
| Fat | 20 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I made it without the olives, and capers. Only using tofu, noodles, parm, pesto sauce, mushrooms, garlic paste, and a little milk. Truly amazing recipe, defiantly reccomend.
I made this with jarred pesto rather than the milk, olive oil, pesto mix mixture. Very good, hearty dinner. Do all the prep ahead of time because cooking needs attention.
Really delicious! My husband said that it’s a “keeper”
Great comfort dish. I did fry onion, then bell pepper and before frying the mushrooms I adde d 1 chopped garlic clove.
Pretty good. I was not thrilled with the pesto sauce packets I bought. I think next time I will make fresh pesto. I added toasted pine nuts for some crunch.
Loved it! I used about half the amount of mushrooms and didn’t add any cheese and it was superb!
The recipe is a great concept. I think I somehow messed it up though because I just could not get the tofu to brown. I cooked my tofu for awhile and it kept on breaking into chunks and not browning. Does anyone have any ideas on how to cook tofu better!??
Excellent! I toned down the pasta to about 1/2 what’s called for, and stirred it into the pesto mixture at the end. I suggest making small cubes from the tofu to make everything more bite-sized. Also, I browned the tofu for about 25 minutes, which gave a nice crispy outer edge. If you’re cooking for one, know that it makes for great leftovers!
Fabulous. I added tomato’s, bacon, and feta. This was the best thing I’ve eaten in a while.
very tasty and comes together fast! will definitely use this recipe again! YUMMY!!
My husband has never had tofu and does not care for veggies, but this recipe changed his mind! He loved the tofu and said this was something he would have again.
This was my first attempt at tofu other than in hot and sour soup. I did not care for it and neither did my husband. I did like it, other than the tofu, but it would have been tastier with the pesto sauce not so watered (milked) down. I may try it again (sans tofu) with two pkgs sauce cooked according to pkg directions with double the mushrooms and capers. I never would have thought of capers and the dish smells sooo good.
Both excellent and easy.
I thought this recipe was very easy and very good. As long as you like all the ingredients it should work for you. I cooked recipe exactly as written with the exception of adding double the capers, because my family loves them.
I’ve been looking for a low-carb, relatively low-fat, protein dish and here it is! I must admit, however, that what I made may not be very close to the original because I had to make alterations to lower the fat and especially the salt. Since the pesto mix counted for 400mg sodium per tablespoon, I decided to adapt it (only I didn’t pay attention to the seasonings in it). This is what I did: instead of the mix, I used about 3/4 of a 5.5oz jar basil in water, 1/4 cup ground pine nuts, 1 cup skim milk, 2 large cloves of garlic, minced, 1 T. olive oil, 1T. corn starch in the hopes of thickening the sauce, and put all 1/4 c. Parmesan cheese into to sauce. I left extra Parmesan cheese out for family members to sprinkle on top. Everything turned out well except for the thin sauce but perhaps I could heat it before adding it to the mushrooms, tofu, and olives. I’m going to continue to “play” with this recipe using different milk, seasonings, etc. but will definitely make it again and again. (No one even noticed the tofu and since I didn’t say it was in the meal, everyone was happy!) Thanks, Veronica!