Variations: Salad with Baked Tofu

As I sit watching the thunderstorm, and changing my plans for the afternoon, I'll share the salad lunch I had today. (Well - I wish I could actually share the salad - it was delicious - but really,  I'll just tell you about it.)

Today was a blend of two lettuces - red leaf and Boston, washed ahead, as I discussed last week. Then I added chopped vegetables - scallions and radishes, carrots, and kohlrabi. You didn't know you could put kohlrabi in a salad? Neither did I, until a year or so ago... It has to be young and tender, and you do need to peel it - the top layers are tough and stringy. But it is nice and crunchy, and tastes good - and it a little more variety.

Then I added cooked chicken - and cooked tofu, the real subject of this post. In theory, one can just cube tofu and drop it in, but I prefer it firmer, and with some flavor added - and this is a good way to do that.

I take a block of firm tofu, and cut it in slices. Then I wrap them in a clean cotton dishtowel - you can use paper towels, but I think the fabric works better. The package sits on the edge of the drainboard for a while, while I get other things ready - this just dries the tofu off, and removes a bit of the moisture.

Then I need some kind of flavorful liquid - I've used plain vinegar, or a vinaigrette salad dressing. I've used lemon juice. I sometimes add herbs or other seasoning. Soy sauce, rice vinegar, and a few drops of sesame oil give an Asian-inspired flavor. You can use broth, though I don't usually do that for a  salad. (No good reason not to - just doesn't sound enticing to me.) Use whatever sounds good to you.

If I am using the oven for something else, I slice the tofu in smaller pieces, and put them in a baking dish. I add the liquid and slosh it around a bit to make sure it is on every surface. I don't usually use enough to cover the tofu - that takes much longer to cook away -  perhaps half a cup or less. If I'm doing this, I may go ahead and use two blocks - just as easy, and I'll use it for something... Pop it into the oven, and bake until the liquid is evaporated/absorbed and the tofu is a bit golden. Timing will vary depending on temperature. It's nice to turn the pieces part way through - which I may or may not get around to doing. If there is just a little liquid left when I'm finished cooking the other dish, I may just turn off the oven and leave it a while - but make sure you don't forget it!

I'm not going to heat the oven just for this in the summer, though. If I'm not using it, I just put the slabs of tofu in a non-reactive frying pan, add the liquid to come about halfway up the side,  and simmer until it is absorbed. I do turn this part way through (one reason I do not cut it in little pieces before cooking... though you can.) Right now, I'm using a good quality non-stick, and I just let the liquid cook away completely. With a stainless steel pan, I'd take it off the heat just before it dries completely, and let it sit, so the tofu will release from the pan.

See - you don't need to pay a fortune for baked tofu in the store! This is nice and firm, with a good flavor. You can go ahead and use it for all kinds of things - in a salad, tossed into a vegetable saute, dropped in some broth... I like to have it on hand, for a fast, easy protein to add to a meal.

Kitchen day

This was a busy day in the kitchen.

I've been away for the weekend (I'll post about cooking for that later.) So I'm largely starting from scratch.

This is a bread baking day, and I've learned to fill up the oven! I mean, if I'm going to put it on at all in this heat, I want full use of it. So I just put in 2 loaves of bread, one large and one small bread and cheese pudding, and a large baking dish of tofu.

I have found that 2 ordinary tubs of tofu, sliced in quarters lengthwise, neatly fill my glass baking dish. Himself prefers the texture of baked tofu, and I think it works better in the salads I often carry for lunch, so this gives me roughly a week's worth. (2 slices each for one dinner, and 1 slice, with another protein source, in 4 lunch salads.)

Earlier, I had made a citrus pickled onion.



I omitted the sugar, because I don't want it, and the pepper, because I didn't have one. It's in the refrigerator now, marinating - I'll see how I like it! I also made a huge bowl of tabbouli with the parsley from the CSA - we'll both be eating this for lunch all week, I think.

Lavender silk

I am at a time in my life when I have found it to be a good idea to have some soy products on a regular basis. I also want to somewhat decrease the amount of meat I've been eating lately, while maintaining an amount of protein that makes me feel well, and the two goals work together well. I am, therefore, working on doing this in a more interesting way than tofu in my lunch salad every day.

I have seen recipes that suggest blending silken tofu to make a cream sauce. Now, I've used it in soups, to make them creamy, with very good effect. So, the other night, having some lovely fresh basil and some homemade noodles, I decided to try this.

First note - purple basil makes sauce that is, well... purple. Lavender, really, blended in the tofu. It's not the most appetizing looking food I've ever produced in my kitchen, particularly tossed with the light brown noodles.

Second - the texture was amazingly good. I have issues with dairy, and I've been missing a lot of those creamy textures - this was great.

Third - it was also a bit bland. Part of that, I think, was the basil - I'd had it nearly a week, and it was losing flavor. It was also the tofu, though, which absorbs flavor. I do remember reading that you need to season it much more than you expect - have to remember that, next time.

On the whole, though, we both liked it - voted "an experiment to repeat." The mouth feel (very important to me) was great, the taste was OK, just needed a bit more punch. (Seasoning added liberally at the table helped a good bit.)

Now, silken tofu has less protein in it than firm, so it was not enough alone. I have to serve it over something. I ended up tossing the sauce over cooked noodles, chunks of cooked turkey, and zucchini.

I made the sauce with 1 14 oz. package of fresh silken tofu, several cloves of cooked garlic (left from a garlic chicken dish I'd made) and a bunch of purple basil. I chopped the basil roughly, put it and the garlic into the container for an immersion blender, and blended them smooth. Then I added chunks of the fresh tofu.

I sauteed onions and zucchini, added the already cooked turkey. When it was hot, I tossed in the cooked, drained fresh noodles. Then I added the sauce, tossed just until it was heated through, and served immediately, with freshly grated romano cheese.

One of these days I'm going to try adding pictures. Believe me, though - this was no loss. Odd looking stuff. Did taste pretty good, though, and I'll definitely do it again.