I will admit up front that I am not a huge fan of tofu. Tofu, on its own, has no particular taste to it: it serves merely as a sponge for other flavors and has no inherent life of its own.

This is not a bad thing, of course, as no doubt there is a place for it in this world. I’d never have thought there was a place for it in my kitchen. But we have vegetarians (or sort of vegetarians – they eat seafood but no meats) joining us for our pasta fest this evening, so today I’ll be making tofu meatballs. For the first time ever. Let’s hope that I don’t do any damage to these very nice people.

The question for me now becomes how the heck to make the things. I’m guessing that with some firm tofu, the mix can be very similar to what I did with the beef/pork/veal meatballs, maybe with a bit more bread crumb mixture as binder. Baked rather than browned in a frying pan, then set aside for the veggie minded. Or hell, maybe fried in a touch of olive oil and then set aside. Who knows? The great fun about cooking is in the experimentation, right?

If you’re in the mood for pasta, with either meat-meatballs or faux-meatballs, feel free to stop by. I’m sure there will be plenty. The poolish (starter) for the baguettes is sitting on the counter, evolving into something great. And we have fresh strawberry ice cream for dessert. Who can resist that?