Miso Tofu

 

The other day I saw a recipe for Grilled Tofu Salad with Miso Dressing on Steamy Kitchen. It looked delicious, so I gave it a try. But of course, I didn't really follow the recipe. Not exactly anyway.

Here's what I did:
-Slice a block of extra firm tofu into about 7-8 slices. Press them between dish towels to get out some of the moisture.
-In a small bowl, I mixed:

• 4 tsp miso paste
• dash of soy sauce
• 1 tbsp mirin
• 1tbsp rice vinegar
• juice of 1/2 lime
• juice of 1/2 orange
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp warm water
• dash of sriracha 

-Then I put the dish in the microwave for 20 seconds to warm it all up - it needs to be warm to dissolve the miso and honey.
-Season to taste and then pour half over the tofu.
-I broiled the tofu for about 7 min/side, but you could fry or grill it too.
-For the salad, I just made a basic salad. But I added the juice from the second half of the orange and little sesame oil to the remaining marinade to convert it to salad dressing.

Tahini Dressing

Another lesson from the vegan adventure: It's all about the condiments. If you are going to put grains, beans, tofu and veggies in the center of your diet, you better have some good dressings and marinades to go with it all.

In my vegan research I read Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Life. Don't laugh. While it is enthusiastic in the extreme, she has some good tips and more than a few good recipes. One of the best was her tahini dressing. Tahini is sesame seed paste. It is delicious.

Of course, I am not a big follower of dressing recipes, so I will just give you the gist of it.

This one is most easily made in a food processor. I used my Mini-Cuisinart.
-Put in the food processor 2 cloves of garlic and a chunk of ginger. Chop up.
-Add 2 tbsp tahini, a squeeze of lemon juice, a dash of soy sauce, a couple of tablespoons of rice vinegar and mirin. Blend until smooth.
-Finally add olive oil until you get the consistency you like. Blend. I also added a little agave to sweeten it up. Honey would work well, too.

This will keep in the refrigerator for several days. It is great on salad, cooked vegetables, rice, beans, falafel, tofu. You name it.

Fried Green Tomato...Salad

This summer has been rough on our tomato plants. First we had scorching heat. Then we got a full month of rain. Now summer is dragging into fall and our tomatoes are limping to the finish line. After getting a pretty good initial crop, a good deal of which was lost to thirsty squirrels and birds, the second wave of tomatoes were splitting as soon as they even considered turning red. I finally gave up on about half of the plants and pulled them out to make room for some fall greens.

One of the ways I have been coping with these tomato challenges is to embrace the fried green tomato. There are countless recipes and techniques for making these little treats. But the basic idea in all of them is to dredge the slices in some combination of milk, egg, breadcrumbs, flour and/or cornmeal and then fry them up in vegetable oil. I think I probably use a different "recipe" every time. I only have two pieces of green tomato frying advice: 1st Salt the tomato slices, let them sit for 15 minutes or so and blot off the water and 2nd double dredge them (i.e. coat them in flour, then a milk/egg, then breadcrumbs/cornmeal).

The last time I made these treats, I put them on top of a salad. Amazingly good. I used the recipe for the cilantro lime dipping sauce to make a salad dressing.

Super Salads

I have been all about the dinner salads recently. Even though I vastly prefer someone else to make a salad for me (it just tastes better that way), my desire for something cool, nutritious and satisfying overrides my distaste for making my own salad. And though I have a tendency to get in to a rut when it comes to salad making, I surprised myself recently with some new, and delicious, creations. Here is one that was especially good.

Salad "recipes" always seem silly to me, so I will just give the gist of what I did.

Mediterranean Salad
-Assemble whatever greens and additional veggies you like on your salad. I used some chopped cucumbers, red pepper, tomatoes.

-In a frying pan saute some mushrooms and sliced onions until they soften. Then add some zucchini slices to the pan and fry them up with olive oil, salt and pepper. (Our garden produced a huge zucchini, and I have been using it in pieces for over a week.)

-Take the zucchini out and sprinkle some grated Parmesan on top. Don't skimp. Don't wait until the rounds get cold or the Parm wont get melty and extra delicious. Cut up the zucchini to a size that suits you.

-Add the grilled veggies to your salad and dress with oil and balsamic vinegar. I also added some diced fresh mozzarella and some chicken tossed in pesto.

Yep, I put more grated Parmesan on top. I didn't say it was a "lite" salad, I just said it was yummy.

Leftovers - Good, Better, Best

Let's face it, not all leftovers are created equally. Some things, like cooked fish, will languish in the back of my refrigerator until the stench finally proves to me that I am not going to make some new dish with the remains of Tuesday's sauteed tilapia. On the other hand, extra chicken, steak, pancake batter, or noodles are sure to get "re-purposed" later in the week.

Rice, I believe, is the king/queen of leftovers. Easily made into rice and eggs or a crispy quesadilla or a easy rice salad. Rice salad is a summertime staple in our house as it is simple to make, makes use of herbs and veggies in our garden and doesn't require the stove. It isn't summer yet, but last week felt like a sneak peak at summer, so I thought I would use up some leftover rice and make this side for our dinner.

Here's what you do:
-Take a couple of cups of cooked rice, drizzle with olive oil and a splash of vinegar.
-Finely chop any or all of the following: green onion, red onion, bell peppers, hot peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, fresh herbs.
-You can saute your veggies for a few minutes if you want and add the rice mix at the end to warm it up. Toss with herbs right before dinner.
-Alternatively you can microwave the rice for a minute and mix the warm rice with the veggies to wilt them just a little.

Last week I had the ends of a container of TJ's grape tomatoes, so I took some advice from the Dinner a Love Story crew and roasted them in the oven for about 20 minutes before adding them to the rice. Oh my. So good.