For quite some time now, I’ve been experimenting on making a healthier pasta sauce for my family, I am trying to considerably lessen our intake of high cholesterol, high fat products such as dairy. I’ve been unsuccessful with my yogurt sauce experiments and my family cannot take anymore, I just told them, at least it’s healthy, they were kind enough to indulge me for some time; I decided to give yogurt a rest and switch to silken tofu. 

Good thing I found this  really good and simple recipe, there are many versions of silken tofu alfredo but I decided to give this one a try because it’s quick and easy to make (magic words for me).  When I told my family we are going to have pasta Alfredo,my daughter said, “oh no, that’s not the one with yogurt right?”, I said “no, it’s different and trust me, this one tastes a lot better.”  

I added chicken breast fillet to this dish because my husband has only one request when it comes to food, it has to have some kind of protein from animals in it, he doesn’t like tofu or beans or any veggies disguising as meat.  He is willing to eat anything as long as there’s meat or even fish in or with it.  I am a meat lover myself so  it’s a done deal.

So how does alfredo with silken tofu taste?  It’s really creamy and yummy just like the real alfredo but without the extra fat, you wouldn’t know it’s made of tofu unless someone tells you; that’s because silken tofu doesn’t have any distinct taste unlike regular firm tofus.  I  don’t think I’m going back to the cream based alfredo anymore, I really like this, it’s cheaper too.  

I just wish I’d known this earlier,  Japanese silken tofu is now part of my regular grocery list; I’ve also discovered that you can make desserts with it and it’s super good on smoothies, yay!  I can’t wait to try some of the dessert recipes I found,  if it turns out good and passes the taste test, I’ll gladly share it  :)   

 I tweaked this recipe just a teeny weeny bit by changing  the cooking process  - the original one uses microwave oven (I don’t like using microwave oven, I gave mine away)  and adding chicken like I mentioned earlier;  you can see the original recipe here.

saute garlic and chicken in olive oil

add in the cooked pasta..

..pour in the sauce..

et voila!  yummy pasta!

CASERECCE with SILKEN TOFU ALFREDO SAUCE
10 oz. dry fettuccini or any pasta (I used casereccemixed with some parfalle to make about 10 oz)
1 teaspoon salt for the pasta water
9 oz chicken breast fillet, cut into strips or chunks
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
6 garlic cloves, crushed, peeled and sliced

For the sauce:
¼ cup nonfat milk
11 oz. silken tofu, drained
6 Tablespoon Parmesan cheese
1/4 t freshly grated nutmeg
½ t salt
grated rind of 1/2 lemon

Directions:Put silken tofu in a colander to drain.

Salt the water for the pasta and turn it on high. When the water boils add the pasta and cook  until al dente ( just followcooking instruction printed at the packaging of the pasta)

Put all sauce ingredientsfor the pasta in a blender. Puree until thick and smooth and Alfredo-ish. Taste it and adjust the seasonings to your taste. Add the pureed silken tofu to the chicken, add a little pasta water if the consistency is too thick, cook for about 2-3 minutes; taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Heat extra-virgin olive oil in  a pan on medium heat, saute garlic for about a minute; add chicken breasts, season with a little salt and white pepper and cook until chicken is done about 6-8 minutes. When the pasta is done, drain it and add it to the chicken in the pan, mix and pour in the sauce, combine well.

Serve immediately.

♥  Thanks for stopping by and have a nice day!  :)  ♥

You may also want to see these:

• Okra and Chicken Spaghetti Tue 05 Jan 2010
• Cheesy Spinach and Silken Tofu Ravioli Thu 03 Jun 2010
• Silken Tofu Mocha Mousse Wed 17 Feb 2010
• Macaroni Chicken Salad Sun 20 Dec 2009
• Easy Chicken Parmesan Sun 02 Aug 2009
• Chicken Roll-ups with Pasta and Tuna Salad Thu 11 Jun 2009