Anita Ojeda 
Have you seen the new gluten-free, vegan pasta from Barilla? It pairs perfectly with my creamy chipotle sauce with tofu!
Barilla Red Lentil Pasta
I should let everyone know up front that I don’t have a wheat sensitivity, nor do I suffer from celiac disease. I do have friends who do, though, so I’m always on the lookout for things that we can eat together. Especially tasty things. Companies have come a long way in the past decade in developing gluten-free products that taste great and don’t require a house mortgage.
Since confession is good for the soul, I’ll also confess that we like our food pretty spicy around here. All of us. Even if we say we don’t. Let me explain. Last night Pedro called fifteen minutes before supper to let me know that one of the young men living with us wanted to know if he could invite a guest over for supper.
“Sure,” I said, “as long as he likes spicy things.”
When the young man arrived, I asked him, “Do you like spicy food?” (when I have more lead time, I usually ask this question before preparing the meal).
“Um…” he looked blankly at me.
I started getting worried. “What’s your favorite snack?” I asked instead.
“Hot Cheetos!” he answered without hesitation.
“Fine. You’ll survive supper,” I assured him.
When we sat down to eat, before we could even bless the food, our carnivore looked at the dish on the table and said, “Is that tofu?”
I started to worry. I thought I’d disguised the tofu pretty well in the creamy chipotle sauce.
“Don’t worry,” he said, turning to his guest, “her tofu tastes really good.”
High compliments indeed from a confirmed carnivore.
Adjust the Heat in the Creamy Chipotle Sauce
Despite our guests’ assurance that he loved the hottest of Hot Cheetos, the creamy chipotle sauce turned out to be a few alarm bells over his comfort zone. Luckily, I had congri (Cuban black beans and rice) on hand, so he could mix the two.
If the folks you’re serving think ketchup is spicy, you might want to adjust the recipe by using fewer chipotle peppers and making sure that your dried chilis are the sweet variety, not the hot kind. Remember when you purchase the tofu (ok, you could use chicken if you wanted to) to get the extra-firm kind, or better yet, the block kind.
As a side note, I’m including the Amazon links to some of the products, but you can probably find them for a better price at your local grocery store. I paid $3.49 for the Barilla Red Lentil pasta at my local grocery store, not $8.40!
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Creamy Chipotle Sauce with Barilla Red Lentil Pasta
- Prep Time: 35
- Cook Time: 10
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 10 1x
Description
You’ll love this spicy, creamy, chipotle dish! Don’t faint when you look at the calorie count, though. This dish is a complete meal and provides almost all of your fiber and protein needs for the day (along with all kinds of vitamins and minerals).
Ingredients
1 Tbs. olive oil
4 cloves garlic
2 jalapeños
1/2 onion
1 cup of boiling water
1/2 cup raw cashews
2 dried chipotle peppers
1 dried mild ancho chili pepper
2 tsp. salt
1 ripe tomato
1/2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. coriander
1 16-oz packages of extra firm tofu, rinsed, pressed, and cut into small cubes.
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. nutritional yeast
1 tsp adobo seasoning (or salt)
12 oz. package of frozen sweet corn
12 oz. of black beans, drained (or 1 1/2 cups of Cuban Black Beans)
1 lime
Instructions
If you purchased tofu in a tub, rinse it and press it while you prepare the other ingredients.
Heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed frying pan while you chop the vegetables into large chunks. Sauté the vegetables over medium high until they look limp.
While the vegetables sauté, place the hot water, cashews, dried peppers, coriander, cumin, and salt in a blender jar. I prefer a high-speed blender such as a Blendtec or Vitamix.
When the vegetables are ready, add them to the blender jar and hit the [Soup] cycle (if you have a Blendtec) or blend on high for about five minutes.
In an medium-sized sauce pan, start heating the water for the pasta. When it comes to a boil, add the Barilla red lentil pasta (I used the rotini). It cooks to al dente in about 8 minutes.
While you wait for the water to boil, add another tablespoon (or less) of olive oil to the frying pan, cut the tofu into small cubes, and add it to the hot oil. Sprinkle the adobo seasoning and nutritional yeast on top of the tofu and stir well. Continue to fry the tofu for about five minutes before adding the frozen corn and the black beans.
When the creamy chipotle sauce has finished blending, pour it over the tofu, corn, and bean mixture and allow it to simmer until the pasta is cooked.
Drain the pasta, pour the creamy chipotle sauce on top, mix well, and serve hot with limes slices.
- Category: Gluten-free
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Mexican
Keywords: barilla red lentil, pasta, gluten-free,Entrée,vegetarian, vegan
I like a little heat. I may have to try this!