Crispy Tofu, Smashed Potatoes & Mushrooms with Carrot Green Pesto

Some days you know exactly what you want for vegan dinner goodness and then there are those days when you’re just hungry but you have no idea what you want. We’ve all been there and where I live vegan takeout isn’t really an option so we have to do something.

Oh, the pressure!

So when one of us doesn’t actually know what we want for dinner but it’s our night to choose, we’ll just toss out a few ingredients, like say; pesto, mushrooms and potatoes. From there, the world is the cook’s #vegan oyster. You can do whatever you want as long as it contains the aforementioned ingredients.

This vegan dinner recipe is the result of one those nights.

Crispy Tofu, Smashed Potatoes & Mushrooms with Carrot Green Pesto

The other great this about this is that it is a super quick and easy vegan recipe, with most of the work being done by kitchen appliances. But before we get to that, let’s get to the ingredients.

Ingredients
TVP or tofu
Carrot greens (from one bunch)
Garlic
Pine nuts
Lemon juice
Potatoes
Salt & Pepper
Hot sauce
Nutritional yeast
Parsley (fresh)
Dill (fresh)
Portobello mushrooms
Peanut oil

When the season permits, I always grab a bunch or two of fresh herbs because they taste so much better when cooking and because then I can make a pesto whenever the mood strikes!

Step One: Rehydrated the TVP, drain it and then season it before cooking in the air fryer for about 10 to 12 minutes. Start with 10 minutes on 200c/400f and keep going until you reach your desired level of crispiness.

Step Two: Portobello mushrooms are next and they need time to get the water out of them. Season them and cook cap down in the oven for 10 to 20 minutes, depending on your preference.

Step Three: Get the potatoes going. You’ll want to boil them for 3 to 5 minutes if you use small to medium potatoes, about 7 to 10 minutes if you use medium to large potatoes. You should be able to get a fork into them but not completely. Drain the water and let the potatoes sit until you can handle them. Smash the potatoes and season on both sides, oil optional. Cook 10 to 15 minutes in the oven, turning half way through. Check to make sure they’re soft on the inside.

Step Four: Now it’s time for the pesto. Toast the garlic and pine nuts until brown & fragrant. Rinse the carrot greens because mine are always packed with dirt and then cut them up so they’re easier for the food processor to chop up. Add the parsley and dill, lemon juice, hot sauce (I used one of my Crazy Bastard sauces, pictured below) and nutritional yeast to the food processor as well and pulse at first until everything starts to break up. When it has, give it a good run on medium. You may need to add more lemon juice or water, or oil if you’re using it, to help it break up.

Now, we plate. This may look like a strange way to plate but it showed off all the ingredients and allowed us to get a little bit of everything with every bite.

If you ask me, this is the perfect meal for an ice cold beer, whatever you like get the job done!