What We Ate Wednesday--Garlic Alfredo Potatoes with Kale and Smoked Tofu

Hello lovelies! Thanks to our dear friends Carole Rivers and Rosie-Mai Rivers-Cole, we were gifted with some smoked tofu right before we went on the Magical Mystery Tour. I have been itching to use it since we came back and as it was a gift I wanted to create some spectacular recipes to use it in not just snaffle it all straight from the package. (Although we did allow ourselves to eat some as a treat during our monthly Doctor Who marathon.)
                                              
This was originally going to be a pasta recipe, but we ate pasta the day before (see last week's WWAW for Creamy Tomato Pasta here.) and so were out of noodle-y goodness. But Adapt, Adopt and Improve is my motto. I thought this alfredo sauce would be perfect over potatoes, and I was right.

This was my first time trying this recipe and we *definitely* will be eating it again. Over pasta. Over potatoes. Over each other. (just kidding)

Over the years I've tried more than a few alfredo sauce recipes...it's all a bit Goldilocks.

This one's too salty...
This one's too bland..
This one's too runny....
This one's too fatty....

But this one--THIS one--it's Juuussst Right.

This is a cashew based sauce, but it fits within my acceptable limit of how many cashew nuts I can afford to use in a recipe which is half a cup. If you don't have a high powered blender soak your cashew nuts overnight or at least several hours then drain and rinse. It helps it blend better to a velvety smooth texture.

I found this recipe on the blog The Vegan 8 and you can read her version here.  She uses all vegetable broth, but I used half veggie broth and half unsweetened soya milk and it was perfect. She also uses nutritional yeast, but I happened to have some vegan Parmesan in the fridge that needed using up so I used that since it was nutritional yeast based.

In case you forgot, my Parmesan recipe is:
3 TB nutritional yeast
3 TB ground almonds
1/2 tsp each sea salt and garlic powder and pulsed in a blender.

I will definitely try it with just nooch next time. Oh yes...there will be a next time.

Of course I couldn't make it just alfredo potatoes. I added our favourite leafy green, kale. Everything is better with kale. FACT.

Garlic Alfredo Potatoes With Kale and Smoked Tofu
Before you do anything:
destem and tear up into bite size pieces, 100g (about 3-4 cups) kale
Dice 500g potatoes

For the sauce:
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup  vegetable stock
******************
half a cup soaked cashews
1 Tb lemon juice
1/4 cup plus 1 TB nutritional yeast or vegan parmesan
3/4 cup unsweetened non dairy milk of choice (we did soya milk)
1/2 a tsp salt

half a packet of smoked tofu, diced small or add a tsp liquid smoke if no generous friends have given you the gift of tofu.

To get started:
1. Put the potatoes in a pot and cover with water and bring to the boil and simmer until they can easily be pierced by a fork. Then drain.
2. Meanwhile, Put the onions in a pot with the veggie stock and cook on med high. When the liquid is almost evaporated, add the garlic. Cook until liquid is evaporated, remove from heat and let cool.
3. When not so hot, add to the blender with the rest of the sauce ingredients and blend until velvety smooth. The onions really thicken it up and add flavour.
4. Put the kale back in the pot that the potatoes cooked in and cook with a splash of water until bright green and reduced. Add in the potatoes, smoked tofu and alfredo sauce and heat until the sauce is bubbling.
5. Serve with a light sprinkle of flaked sea salt (optional) and quite a lot of freshly ground pepper. we had a little bit of parmesan left, so we sprinkled that on as well.

The picture *really* does not do it justice. The sauce was thick, creamy with a fatty mouthfeel, but not heavy or oily, flavoursome with a bit of a tang. I might even add an extra TB lemon juice next time.

Stay tuned next week where I show you how I used the rest of the packet of smoked tofu in some vegan quiche!