Tofu can be tricky.  It’s the texture that bothers me, the flavour isn’t a problem- it will absorb anything and can easily be enhanced with marinades and glazes.  Frying tofu in a pool of veggie oil is a viable option, but I hate deep frying- the left over oil, and the smell, and the greasiness all gets to me.  Baking tofu for a long period of time gives it a nice crispy exterior, and is probably my favourite method.  Today I tried grilling on a cast iron grill pan, while simultaneously glazing.   It was good, but baking is still easier and so far the best method, IMO.

Jon and I had it in a sandwich for lunch, which was a nice change from his usual PB and J.

Tofu Glazed and Grilled in a Sweet and Spicy Ginger-Garlic Sauce
9 Slices

1 Container of Tofu
1/2 Cup Ginger-Garlic Sauce (or just soy sauce, ginger, and garlic)
3Tbsp Adobo Sauce
1 Tbsp Miso Paste
3 Tbsp Honey
1/4 Cup Veggie Broth
Juice of 1/2 Lime
1 Tbsp Paprika

Slice the tofu horizontally three times, and slice each slab vertically, creating three thin rectangles. Place on a cutting board with another board on top, and top with something heavy. Allow to press and drain for 30 mins to an hour.

Combine all the ingredients and use as a marinade for the tofu, if you’ve got time marinate overnight, or at least an hour- flipping once half way. The next day, drain the tofu from the marinade and pour the marinade into a pan. If the tofu has absorbed too much, make another batch. Place in a pan and cook over low heat for 10 mins or so until the sauce has thickened, to a syrupy consistency.

Using a cast iron grill, place each slice of tofu on the pan and brush with the glaze. Cook about 2 minutes on one side, pressing down with a spatula. Flip and glaze again, press down, and cook for a few mins. Continue to do this until the glaze is used up and the tofu has been cooked thoroughly.

I ate mine on a sandwich with mayonnaise, tomato, and greens. They would be extra good with some sprouts and avocado as well. Or eat over rice, quinoa, a salad, or as an entree with some side veggies.

I massacred my egg a bit- when I put it into the poach pod the yolk separated, so it’s a bit of a mess. After the tian and the napoleons the other day, I had a couple extra slices of sweet potato, red skinned, and butternut squash to use up, so I thought a hash would be good, especially since I didn’t get my egg this weekend.

Poached Egg over Mixed Root Hash
Serves 1

1/2 Potato
1/2 Sweet Potato
2 Slices Butternut Squash
1/2 Onion
2 tsp Parsley
2 tsp Paprika
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 Egg

Chop up the root vegetables into small rectangles. If you can be bothered to grate them, go ahead. Chop up the onion and saute in some olive oil for a few mins, then add the parsley and root vegetable mix. Cook over medium low for a few minutes, to speed the process up cover the pan for 3 minutes or so, stirring intermittently. Once the root vegetables are almost done, poach the egg. Season the root veggies with salt and pepper and when crisp and brown, remove and arrange on a plate. Place poached egg over the hash.

My mum makes the best pavlovas for Sunday Dinner deserts.  They are a bit of a commitment though- it takes an hour of low cooking in the oven, and then if you want  to avoid cracks, leave them in the oven until it has properly cooled (3 + hours).  And don’t even think about making pavlovas unless you have an electronic whisk- I undertook that endeavour once and was stiff for days.

Strawberry Pavlovas with Blueberry Coulis

I followed Shuna Fish Lydon’s recipe posted on Simply Recipes.  It made 6 large-ish pavlovas- I made mine too big for one person, so really it makes 12 individual sized pavlovas.  Follow the instructions there.  For the filling I whipped some cream, halved some strawberries and created a blueberry coulis.

Blueberry Coulis
Enough for 12 individual Pav’s

2 Cups Blueberries
4 Tbsp Sugar
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice

Throw it all in a sauce pan and cook over low heat. If the blueberries arent breaking up, mash them up a bit. After about ten minutes, strain the blueberries and allow to cool.

Tomato and Root Vegetable Tian
Serves 4 as a Side

1 Onion
2 Cloves of Garlic
1 Tomato
2 Red Skinned Potatoes
2 Sweet Potatoes
3 Turnips
Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Butter
1 tsp each of: thyme, rosemary, basil, oregano, sage
1/4 Cup Red Wine
1/4 Cup Swiss Cheese

In a frying pan, sautee olive oil and finely chopped onions for 5-7 minutes until tender. Add minced garlic cloves and herbs- cook a minute or two. Add knob of butter, allow to melt, and transfer to a casserole dish. Slice potatoes and turnips into thin rounds- about 1/2 cm thick, and slice tomato. Arrange over onion and garlic mixture, with each slice overlapping the other. Drizzle over some olive oil and wine. Grate swiss cheese over veggies, and add some fresh thyme on top if you’ve got it. Season with salt and pepper. Spray some foil with some pam and wrap over the casserole dish. Cook in the oven at 400 for about 50 mins. Remove foil and cook another 10 mins or so. Serve with a salad and some crusty french bread.

P.S. Notice the St Patrick’s Day themed Lonely Bean that Jon did today!

Butternut Squash, Drunk Mushrooms and Goat Cheese Napoleons
Makes 6 Napoleons

1 Butternut Squash
Tube of Goat Cheese
12 Mushrooms
3 Tbsp White Wine
Fresh Parsley
Glug of Olive Oil

Skin the butternut squash and cut into rounds about 1 cm thick. Brush with olive oil, season, and roast in the oven at 400 for about 30 minutes, flipping half way. Heat up some more olive oil in a frying pan, and cook sliced mushrooms a few minutes, add wine, and allow wine to absorb into mushrooms. Once squash are done, layer squash, then goat cheese, then mushrooms. If you have fresh parsley chop it up and add it in with the goat cheese.

My mini cocette lets me cook dishes like stews and soupy dishes for lunch because it makes one serving.  For lunch today I made a quick spicy chickpea stew with feta cheese.

Chickpea Stew with Feta Cheese
Serves 1

1/4 Can Chickpeas
1/4 Can Tomatoes, diced
1 Spring Onion
1/2 Small Onion
1 Clove of Garlic
1/2 Ancho Pepper
1 Tbsp Adobo Sauce
Feta Cheese
1 tsp Dried herbs: rosemary, thyme, sage, oregano, basil
Olive Oil
2 tbsp broth

Saute olive oil and onion for 3-5 minutes until the onion is tender, add garlic and herbs and cook for a few minutes. Meanwhile, pour boiling water over ancho peppers. Let the ancho chile peppers soak for about ten minutes, and then chop up and throw in the pan with the garlic and onions. Add chickpeas, tomatoes, and some broth. Cook until reduced and throw in the pot. Add feta on top, and cook in the oven for 20 mins at 400. Before serving, sprinkle some chopped spring onion on top.

I have some Nori to use up and figured I would try and incorporate it into some snack food.  I have plenty of hummus, which surprisingly goes quite well with Nori!  Add whatever sliced veggies you want- and aybe a slice of feta or halloumi (!!).

Nori Napoleons
Makes 3-4 Napoleons

1 sheet of Nori
1 Tomato
Hummus
Avocado

Cut Nori into squares, place a square of nori for the base and spread with hummus, place with a tomato slice and then another nori square. Alternate until there are at leas three layers, place a nori square on top and garnish with an avocado slice and some sesame seeds.

Do you see the nori cut into the shape of a heart??? That’s as ornate as I could get, a far cry from the bento boxes currently gracing foodgawker with their presence.  A for effort.

I wanted to do my sushi bowl tonight- sort of like a free form sushi consisting of sushi rice mixed with chopped cucumber, avocado, and spring onions, and also topped with sesame seeds, sesame oil, soy sauce, nori, and baked tofu.  But the fridge in my room sucks and it froze and subsequently destroyed my cucumber to a soggy mess.  It’s still sitting there, too.  So I went for a Miso Soup mixed with left over sushi rice, and the remaining fixings.

On another note, work was  pretty good today (even though I should be at home eating eggs for breakfast).  While in the woods I found a humongous  turtle shell!!!!!!! I think it’s an eastern snapping turtle, but could be wrong.  I have named her Myrtle.  Since zooarchaeology is one of my interests (though not strengths), I took her home, in my backpack.. on my back.  I’m going to resist the obvious joke.

So anyway, back to soup, not turtle soup.

Miso Soup with Sushi Rice, Spring Onion, Baked Tou, and Avocado.
Serves 1

Sushi Rice for One- left over
Miso Soup for One*
1 Spring Onion
1/4 Avocado
2-3 Slices Baked Tofu
1 tsp Sesame Oil
1 tsp Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Sesame Seeds
1/2 Sheet Nori

*Vegetarians beware, Miso often has dried fish stuff in it, so check before hand, or just get the Miso Soup sold in the vegan section of the supermarket.

Heat the miso soup, throw in sushi rice, spring onions, chopped up nori, sesame seed oil, and soy sauce.  Mix well.  Top with Tofu, Sesame Seeds and beautiful origami-like Nori decorations, like mine above

Hotel Meal # 2, all microwavable! I never understood the concept of stuffing artichokes- it seemed fruitless to me. What’s the point of going through the trouble of such a fiddley process if you are only going to eat the ends of the leaves. After tonight, I understood. The cheese melts, sticking the stuffing to the leaves that you scrape off along with the flesh of each leaf. Then there is the heart, which obviously manages to contain all of the goodies. It is only a little fiddly, but you can do it all in 15 minutes.  I ate it with a sweet potato and some spinach.

Globe Artichokes Steamed with Lemon Butter and Stuffed with Feta, Diced Tomato, Scallion, and Bread Crumbs.
Serves 1

1 Artichoke
1/2 Lemon
1 Spring Onion
Handful of Feta
1/2 Plum Tomato
1/2 Slice of bread
1 Tbsp Butter

Prepare the artichoke- you know, take all the hairy bits out. Place in a microwavable bowl, fill with 1 1/2 of Water, Stick the butter and juice most of the lemon inside of it. Cover and cook for about 13 minutes.

Meanwhile, dice the tomato and chop up the Spring Onion. Toast the bread and crumble. If you have more than just a microwave at your disposal, toast the bread crumbs under a broiler. Remove the artichoke from the microwave and open all the leaves. Mix the tomato, feta, and spring onions together and press between the leaves, with a good portion of it going in the center. Sprinkle with remaining lemon juice and top with bread crumbs. Stick it back in the microwave for another 3-5 minutes.

Spinach Salad with Baked Tofu and Lemon Tahini Dressing
Serves 1

3 or 4 slices of baked tofu (recipe below)
Spinach
1/4 Avocado
1 Tomato
Cucumber
Scallion
Feta Cheese

Dressing:
2 tbsp Greek Yogurt
1 small clove of garlic, minced
2 tsp Salt and pepper
1/2 Lemon, Juiced
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tbsp Tahini

Tofu:
1 Block of Tofu
1 Clove of Garlic- minced
1 tbsp Honey
2 tsp Chipotle Spice
3 tbsp Adobo Sauce
1 tsp Paprika
2 tbsp Miso Paste
1 tbsp Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar
2 tbsp Sesame Oil
1/4 Cup Hot Water

Slice the tofu in half, and slice again in half (so there are 4 thin layers of tofu that stack up on each other). Cut into rectangles, and place on a cutting board. Place another cutting board on top, and stick something heavy on it so the tofu is pressed and drained. Leave from a half hour to an hour. Mix all the marinade ingredients together, and pour over tofu in a large baking dish. Cover and place in the fridge, leave over night.

The next day, bake the tofu for about 30 mins with the marinate at 400, covered. Remove cover and flip, bake another 20-30 mins. Before removing form the oven, flip once more and broil for a few mins.

For the salad: Arrange sliced tomatoes, cucumber, scallions, avocado, and feta over a bed of Spinach. Place tofu on top. Whisk together ingredients for the dressing and season to taste, pour over salad.