Pasta is a dish most everyone loves and thanks to Ruth at Once Upon A Feast there will never be a shortage of recipes to try.  Her weekly Presto Pasta Nights roundups have me in awe at the remarkable number of ways you can prepare a pasta dish.

My submission of Mustard & White Wine Pasta is a tweaked version of a previous pasta dish I have made.  In this version I thinned the sauce considerably and kept it simple with the addition of leeks and fresh tarragon.  For service I placed the hot pasta and sauce atop a bed of raw spinach.  The heat from the pasta nicely wilted the spinach and was a wonderful way to incorporate another vegetable in the dish.  A squeeze of fresh lemon was the finishing touch!

I'm getting ahead of myself, before we enjoyed the pasta dish we had to have cocktail hour first!  Tonight's concoction is a work in progress and involved peach vodka, vanilla cognac and mint.  It was good but not a winner, so darn, I'll have to keep experimenting :)  Be aware that I like them strong!

To accompany the pasta I made a couple of loaves of Pain de Campagne from The Bread Bakers Apprentice.  I prepared the pate fermentee (pre-ferment) the morning before making the dough.  The pre-ferment was half whole-wheat bread flour and half ap-flour.  The dough was also a combination of whole-wheat and all-purpose as well as rye.  I bake my higher hydration, rustic breads in a La Cloche covered baker and am very pleased with the results. 

It's the weekend and that means a lovely bottle of wine was served with dinner.  Where there is wine there must be cheese!  It may seem that we eat a lot of cheese but actually we are vegan 5-6 days a week and only indulge in a bit of cheese on Friday or Saturday nights.  Cheese, bread and wine go so well together. 

Our cheeses this evening were an excellent maple smoked goat cheese, Rogue River smoky blue and Italian caciocavallo which is similar to provolone.  One the side I served some horseradish and tarragon roasted beets.  We ripped off a small piece of bread, spread on a little cheese and topped it with a slice of beet, delicious! 

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Mustard & White Wine Pasta

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 large leeks, sliced

1 clove garlic, minced

2 T. fresh tarragon, minced

1 cup white wine

1 cup vegetable broth

1 ½ tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 ½ tablespoons whole grain mustard

¼ cup firm silken tofu, blended

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

½ pound pasta (½ box)

lemon wedges

Combine the blended tofu with the mustards; set aside.

Saute the leeks and garlic in a bit of olive oil until tender.  Remove from pan and place on a piece of foil, wrap up and keep warm in a 200 degree oven.

Deglaze the pan with 1 cup dry white wine for about 1 minute. Add broth and the tofu/mustard mix. Whisk to combine. Whisk in fresh tarragon and salt and pepper.

Cover and set aside.

Meanwhile, pasta should be cooking. When al dente, add the pasta to the sauce.  Add the leeks and toss to coat pasta and leeks and serve on a bed of raw spinach with a lemon wedge.

Note: For a creamer consistency substitute soy yogurt for the tofu.