Baked Tofu
Yes, baked.
I finally figured out how the vegetarian restaurants in town got that lovely texture and lovely flavor into the tofu that they put on salads and in stir-frys. The goodness is baked right in! (forgive me, I've been writing a lot of marketing copy lately.) If you aren't a tofu fan, you can skip the rest of this. I'm not going to try and convince you. It's an acquired taste. But I do love it and reserve the right to proselytize later.
While I have been disappointed lately in Moosewood's cookbook for simple recipes (I was hoping for pumpkin bread not soup), I did find a fabulous one for baked tofu in a later Moosewood cookbook. I'm still in the process of testing it. I tried to multi-task and had the oven too low for proper chewiness and brownness.
Baked tofu can be seasoned however you like it, put in the fridge, fried again, served chilled and cubed on a salad, mashed with garlic for a bagel spread. Unless you're getting your tofu from a local maker, you probably have to put up with the rather soggy blocks packaged in 1 lb. trays. I have found the grocery store's "Super Firm" to be Kinda Sorta Not Really Firm. And the soft or silken tofu is only good for smoothies and blender concoctions, like my totally scrummy (ganked from Alton, re-interpreted by me) Chocolate Dream Pie.
Bake away!
Baked Tofu (Simplified)
1. Wrapped in paper towels, press 1 lb. block of tofu between two plates with a weight on it for 15-20 minutes.
2. Cut into "fingers" or cubes, and place in baking dish. (First time, I used Pyrex and I don't think it got hot enough.)
3. In a separate bowl, mix 1/4 c. soy sauce, 3 T. olive oil, one crushed garlic clove, a few grinds of lemon pepper and a couple pinches of salt. (The seasoning you choose determines the "ethnicity" of the tofu... more on that later.)
4. Pour the marinade over the tofu and let stand for 15-20 minutes.
5. Heat oven to 400 degrees, and bake for (yes, you guessed it) 15-20 minutes OR until it's browned and chewy-firm.
6. Toss with pasta or veggies, stick it in a taco with salsa, cabbage and pico de gallo.
7. Or just refrigerate until you want it for salads.
More later on other ways to eat it (over the sink, with Trader Joe's Salsa Verde - yum!)...
I finally figured out how the vegetarian restaurants in town got that lovely texture and lovely flavor into the tofu that they put on salads and in stir-frys. The goodness is baked right in! (forgive me, I've been writing a lot of marketing copy lately.) If you aren't a tofu fan, you can skip the rest of this. I'm not going to try and convince you. It's an acquired taste. But I do love it and reserve the right to proselytize later.
While I have been disappointed lately in Moosewood's cookbook for simple recipes (I was hoping for pumpkin bread not soup), I did find a fabulous one for baked tofu in a later Moosewood cookbook. I'm still in the process of testing it. I tried to multi-task and had the oven too low for proper chewiness and brownness.
Baked tofu can be seasoned however you like it, put in the fridge, fried again, served chilled and cubed on a salad, mashed with garlic for a bagel spread. Unless you're getting your tofu from a local maker, you probably have to put up with the rather soggy blocks packaged in 1 lb. trays. I have found the grocery store's "Super Firm" to be Kinda Sorta Not Really Firm. And the soft or silken tofu is only good for smoothies and blender concoctions, like my totally scrummy (ganked from Alton, re-interpreted by me) Chocolate Dream Pie.
Bake away!
Baked Tofu (Simplified)
1. Wrapped in paper towels, press 1 lb. block of tofu between two plates with a weight on it for 15-20 minutes.
2. Cut into "fingers" or cubes, and place in baking dish. (First time, I used Pyrex and I don't think it got hot enough.)
3. In a separate bowl, mix 1/4 c. soy sauce, 3 T. olive oil, one crushed garlic clove, a few grinds of lemon pepper and a couple pinches of salt. (The seasoning you choose determines the "ethnicity" of the tofu... more on that later.)
4. Pour the marinade over the tofu and let stand for 15-20 minutes.
5. Heat oven to 400 degrees, and bake for (yes, you guessed it) 15-20 minutes OR until it's browned and chewy-firm.
6. Toss with pasta or veggies, stick it in a taco with salsa, cabbage and pico de gallo.
7. Or just refrigerate until you want it for salads.
More later on other ways to eat it (over the sink, with Trader Joe's Salsa Verde - yum!)...
1 Comments:
Although I'm definately in the camp of Ewwwww, I must say, I have always had a soft place in my heart for the Tofuti beast from a Far Side Cartoon of long ago...
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