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Tasty tofu

February 1st, 2006 Caroline

I’ve been a vegetarian a long time now, but I really don’t proselytize about it, and I take true vicarious pleasure in the meat-eating of my friends (recently I was out to dinner with some friends who ordered head cheese. Head cheese! And they loved it and I was so pleased.) Further, tofu and tempeh just can’t replace meat and never will. Bacon is bacon, and bacon is delicious (I continued to eat BLT’s for an entire summer after I started calling myself a vegetarian), and you’ll never get anything so bacon-y good made out of soy. Still, other than bacon I don’t much like meat, and never learned to cook it so well I wasn’t afraid I’d poison myself, so I don’t eat it. But you won’t catch me putting tofu in a burrito or someplace else it doesn’t belong. I try to be pretty upfront about tofu; if it’s in something I’ve made, you’ll know it’s there, and you can probably pick it out if you really want to. But we’ve learned some good things to do with it. Here’s one we tried recently:

Moosewood Sesame Tofu with Spinach
1 pound firm tofu
1/4 c sesame seeds
2 tbsp dark sesame oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
a few drops Tabasco or similar (we have chipotle tabasco, which tasted good)
2 tsp vegetable oil
3 cloves chopped garlic
10 oz baby spinach, rinsed

Slice the tofu lengthwise into 4 rectangular slabs, then halve the slabs to make 8 square pieces. Spread the sesame seeds on a plate and press each tofu square into the seeds to coat evenly.

Heat the sesame oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Place the tofu squares in a single layer in the skillet and cook about 5 minutes. Turn them over carefully and cook another 5 minutes. Now add the soy sauce and tabasco, and turn the tofu squares over again to cook about one more minute, until most of the liquid is absorbed. Transfer the tofu to a plate, leaving the stray sesame seeds in the pan.

Add the oil & garlic to the pan now and sauté about 30 seconds. Add the still-damp rinsed spinach and cook a minute or two, until wilted but still bright green. Season with salt & pepper.

Put the spinach on a platter and top with the tofu. If, like me, your partner went to costco and you have quantities of spinach to use, then serve your tofu and spinach with the following:

Green Rice
1 1/2 c white rice
2 1/4 c water
3 scallions (or a handful of chives)
4 c loosely packed spinach
black pepper

Cook the rice. While the rice is cooking, coarsely chop your scallions or chives and rinse the spinach. Saute the scallions/chives in a bit of oil for a minute or two, then add the spinach and cook till just wilted. Puree in a blender till smooth, adding water or stock if necessary.

When the rice is done, fluff it with a fork and stir in the spinach puree.

Entry Filed under: Recipes