Pesto Israeli Couscous with Balsamic-Glazed Tofu & Mushrooms

Ingredients

2 cups Israeli couscous

4 cups filtered water

1 pkg organic firm tofu

2 cups white button mushrooms, sliced

1 can whole large black olives, drained

1 tsp ghee (clarified butter)

Pesto

2 cups fresh basil

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup slivered almonds

1/3 cup olive oil

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp freshly cracked pepper

Balsamic Glaze

1/8 cup balsamic vinegar

1/3 cup olive oil

1 tsp Trader Joes garlic aioli mustard

2 garlic cloves, pressed in garlic press

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp freshly cracked pepper

Directions

Press the tofu by: draining the water out of the tofu package, rinse the tofu off, wrap tofu in a kitchen towel, place in a medium bowl with 2 canned goods placed on top to weigh it down, after 20-30 minutes it is ready to be cooked. Cut into bite-size cubes.

Next, in a large non-stick pan saute the tofu until golden (about 8-10 minutes) in the ghee over medium heat (never go higher than medium in a non-stick pan). Next add in the mushrooms and cook through.

Next, make the couscous by bringing the water to a boil, add the couscous, bring back up to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low, cook 10-12 minutes, and finish by fluffing with a fork.

Meanwhile, whisk all the balsamic glaze ingredients together. Add to the tofu and mushrooms and cook for another 8-10 minutes until the tofu becomes crispy and the glaze has reduced to half. Then drained off any excess olive oil.

Meanwhile, prepare pesto by adding all the pesto ingredients into the bowl of the food processor besides the olive oil, pulse a few times, then stream in the olive olive with the motor running until well blended.

Finally, mix the pesto, couscous, tofu, mushrooms, and olives together.

Ever since I realized I could make a delicious cheaper pesto with slivered almonds (as opposed to expensive pine nuts) I have been wanting to make pesto every week. Israeli couscous is one of my favorite grains because of the soft comfy texture so I am always happy to use it. I decided to make up a glaze for the tofu because I didn't want to have flavorless tofu and I knew the best way to infuse flavor into the tofu was by stir-frying in a sauce. I typically used an asian-inspired sauce, but that obviously wasn't a fit with the pesto. So the best pairing I could think of was a balsamic vinaigrette, which turned out perfectly. I wasn't planning on it, but the olive oil in the vinaigrette ended up making the tofu lovely and crispy. I drained off the excess olive oil to save on calories, but feel free to keep it. The olives were a perfect finish for this dish. I ate this cold the next day for lunch and it was just as good. I was very pleased with the results of my random ideas.