Green Goddess Casserole

Sorry it's been a while, but hopefully this weekend we'll have a big spur of activities, and I can catch up on past meals.

Last night I wanted a break from meat (I know, heresy!), but I still wanted something rich and satisfying that still had a bit of a homey taste. I'm from Ohio, so what better than a pasta bake? I had been interested in making my own Green Goddess dressing, and thought it would make a great sauce. Not the modern-hippy one, but one rich and savory where the herbs nicely off-balance the deep flavor of anchovies. I can't stand anchovies by themselves, but used in sauce, they're amazing! I keep a bottle of Thai West Fish sauce in my fridge, and use it quite often.

Green Goddess Casserole

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound pasta (rotini, shells, macaroni, anything you'd put in a bake. I used spinach and tomato rotini to add more depth to the recipe. And cause I already had it in my cupboard

For the Sauce

• 1 cup mayonaisse (home-made is best)
• 2 tablespoons anchovy sauce (I use Thai West Fish Sauce)
• 1 cup spinach, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup mixed fresh herbs (or 1 tablespoon dried, but fresh is much better for this). I used basil, chives and spring onions
• 1 egg

For the Tofu

• 1 brick of pressed seasoned tofu. Quickest and easiest is buying a pressed tofu like a five spice. They make a great one near us in Cambridge. Otherwise, you can use any recipe to press and marinate your tofu
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp mirin (or half tbsp white whine and half tbsp sugar)
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp ginger powder

The rest

• 3 cups spinach, chopped
• Two tomatoes, chopped
• 1 ball fresh mozzarella (about 5 oz.) chopped into half inch cubes
• 2 chugs Canola oil

Putting it together

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Make your pasta, following directions, for al dente.
3. In blender, add all ingredients for sauce. Blend on low until incorporated and sauce is a spring green color. Set aside.
4. Mix all ingredients for the tofu except the tofu itself in a bowl.
5. Cut tofu into half-inch squares. For me, this was cutting the block once vertically. For other tofus, twice. Add to bowl, toss to coat.
6. Put a chug of oil in the bottom of a pie plate, and swirl to cover. Add tofu, spread out as evenly as possible, and add to oven for half an hour, tossing every ten minutes.
7. When pasta is down, drain and shock under cold water. Add to 10" pie tin or 11x7 brownie pan. Add the spinach, tomatoes, mozzarella and sauce and toss to combine. On top add the tofu, pouring any marinade over top. Bake for 20 minutes.

Laa wants me to note that the tomatoes, chives and basil came from our garden. The extreme sweetness of home-grown tomatoes really added a nice note to the dish. Laa usually doesn't eat raw tomatoes, and she eats them! So I'd recommend getting as good quality tomatoes as possible.