Kahane’s Chicken and Kale Casserole with a Smoked Tofu Twist :-) That Saved the Weekend

Hi everyone! What a wild week I had; A Saturday performance with my band, the No Rehearsals and the incredible healthy cookie bake off sponsored by Take Back the Kitchen. What fun but how busy! It was very hard to cook which is why I was THRILLED to have a vat of one of the tastiest dishes I’ve tried in a while, given to me by my friend Kahane. I ate it ALL WEEKEND, as did my kids.

Sometimes it sure is nice to be fed by a friend and not cook :-).

I’ll let her explain how she adapted it from Martha Stewart.

Hi Alma –
First of all, thanks for being this recipes number one fan! Below you will find the recipe – the first time I made it, I followed the recipe and it was quite tasty. The second time I made it, I made the following modifications including ingredients and amounts (this is what you had):

1 lb pasta (I used tomato & spinach shells – very pretty, a little healthier than the norm)
24 oz of ricotta (12 oz non-fat/12oz skim)
substituted smoked tofu for the chicken (SoyBoy Brand from Whole Foods)(to be honest, this got a love/hate reaction from diners)
in addition to the lemon zest, i added in fresh lemon juice

Chicken and Kale Casserole:

Prep Time
25 minutes
Total Time
1 hour 15 minutes
Yield
Serves 8
Add to Shopping List
Ingredients

Coarse salt and ground pepper
3/4 pound large pasta shells
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large yellow onion, diced medium
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 bunches kale (1 1/2 pounds), tough stems and ribs removed, leaves coarsely chopped
2 cups shredded or chopped cooked chicken (from 1/2 rotisserie chicken)
1 container (48 ounces) part-skim ricotta
3 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
3/4 cup Parmesan, grated (2 1/4 ounces)
Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain; return to pot. In a large skillet, melt butter over medium-high. Add onion and garlic; cook until onion is beginning to soften, 4 minutes. Add kale, cover, and cook until almost tender, about 5 minutes. Transfer to pot with pasta.

Stir in chicken, ricotta, lemon zest, and 1/2 cup Parmesan; season with salt and pepper. Transfer mixture to a 9-by-13-inch baking dish; top with 1/4 cup Parmesan. Bake until top is golden, 30 minutes.