Go To Meal - Marinated Baked Tofu

Non-vegetarians may quail or hide at the mere mention of tofu but as a recovering vegetarian it's still a part of my diet for one very big reason - it's so damn easy!

• It's easy to store - an unopened package will last in your fridge for well over a week so you can buy it in advance.
• It's easy to cook - throw in the holy trinity of SE Asian cooking (soy sauce, sesame oil and ginger) and you have some seriously tasty potential whether you bake, stir fry or marinate it. The stuff is a sponge for flavour, the trick is to rinse it well to get rid of the "beany" taste then press it to remove the water prior to cooking with it.

One of the simplest recipes I make is marinated tofu. It's easy to prepare and gives me enough left overs for two or three lunches. It's my go-to meal for busy weeks, I always have the marinade ingredients and uncooked rice on hand so all I need is a brick of tofu and some sort of veggie for a complete meal.

The recipe as per the cook book is as follows, my variations are at the end.

2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 Tsp grated fresh ginger
1 Package of tofu (~375g)

Slice tofu into approx 1/4 inch slices then press to remove water. Combine the soy sauce, sesame oil and ginger in a small bowl.

Place the pressed tofu in a flat bottomed glass or ceramic baking dish and pour the marinade over it. Let sit for 30-45 minutes, turning the tofu slices at least once.

Preheat the oven to 375. Cook the tofu for 20 minutes, turning after 10.

Serve on rice, brown is best.

My variations:
I usually double the marinade, use 3/4 for the tofu and the rest on steamed broccoli, carrots or other veggies to accompany the meal.
I love ginger so usually put in at least three times as much.
Sprinkle sesame seeds on the tofu prior to cooking - they're healthy (iron and calcium) and they'll roast a bit while the tofu cooks, adding more flavour.
A minced/pressed clove of garlic is a tasty addition.
Throw in some green onion bulbs in the dish with the tofu - they're yummy roasted.

Goulash with Spätzle

I was talking about making this on the other blog and thought while I was in blogger and while it was relatively fresh in my mind I should post the recipe.

Goulash

- 2lb of stew beef chunks
- 1/4c flour combined with ground pepper and a teaspoon of (hungarian) paprika
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 2 onions, chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 -2 tbsp of paprika (depends if you are using spice and how you like it) - to make the flavour more complex you could also add a tsp each of ground caraway seeds, majoram, and thyme - I didn't have any on hand but the thyme but those flavours were seen in various online recipes I used for inspiration.
- 3 tbsp of tomato paste
- 4 c of veggie broth

Toss the beef in the flour mix and brown in a large saute pan with 1 tbsp of olive oil - 5 to 10 minutes, work in batches as need be. Remove and set aside.
Saute onions and garlic on medium in rest of olive oil until just turning golden.
Add paprika, saute one more minute
Add tomato paste and veggie broth, deglazing the pan.
Bring to boil, reduce to simmer and leave stirring occationally for 1 1/2 hours. I left it uncovered to thicken it.

Spätzle

Combine 2 eggs and a cup of milk.
Add to 2 c of flour (cut with a dash of salt)
Mix adding milk as needed to make it like pancake batter.

Run through the spätzle maker into a big pot of boiling water. If you don't have one, try slowly pouring the runny mixture through a collinder with biggish holes while shaking it gentle to make the droplets seperate.

Cook for 2 or 3 minutes (they will float to the surface so work fast or in batches). Drain and toss with 1 tbsp of butter.

Serve the goulash on the spätzle (or beside since the spätzle tastes really good on its own with a bit of salt).

This made enough for two dinner portions (the picture below is on side plates not dinner plates) and two large lunches.

Tomato Olive Beef

Training season is about to begin which means it's time to pull out the slow cooker - cooking hearty, healthy food is a must when you're working out (and the rest of the time) and having vast amounts of left overs is very handy when you're spending more time on the bike, in the pool or on the run than you are at home.

The first time I made this it rocked! I have a batch slow cooking away right now and I'm hoping it's as good as my first effort.

Tomato Olive Beef

From the Company's Coming Slow Cooker Dinners

28oz can of diced tomatoes (with juice)

1.5 cups thinly sliced red onion

2 fresh chilies, seeds and ribs removed *

1/3 cup tomato paste

1/4 cup dry red wine

1 tbsp chili powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 lbs (900g) beef stew meat

6 bacon slices, cooked crisp & crumbled

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

6 Kalamata olives, pitted & chopped**

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

Combine first 8 ingredients in 3.5 to 4 liter slow cooker. Add beef and bacon. Stir well. Cook on Low for 8 to 10 hours or on High for 4 to 5 hours.

Add basil. Stir well. Remove to large serving bowl. Scatter olives and pine nuts over top.

Serves 8.

* leave the seeds in for a spicier dish

** I LOVE olives so I include at least 6 per person

Curry in a hurry

I am a fan of curries. All kinds of curries. Indian to Thai. I love 'em.

Thai is possibly the easiest to make. I usually make a simply red coconut curry on rice. Simple and tasty. Today I made a slow cooker beef curry from the William-Sonoma Essentials of slow Cooking. It was the third thing I've made out of the book and I'm giving the book two thumbs up for sure. Tasty recipes with simple natural ingrediates and none of that "can of mushroom soup" business... but I digress.

Curry. Thai Curry to be precise. Out of respect for copy right and all that I won't repost the recipe I made to day but it builds on the basic principles of my Red Coconut Curry. Which I will share.

The key to a good curry is finding a good curry paste. I am a fan of the plastic container of Namjai brand. Can't usually find it in your local Safeway but a good asian market will have it. I'm not a fan of the oily paste in the envelop that you get at the plain jane grocery store asian aisle. So invest in some good paste. If you are in Vancouver you can get it at South China Seas in Granville market.

Now the recipe:

Red Coconut Curry with Prawns or chicken or tofu...

- enough of your meat (or tofudabeast) for 2 or 3 people (i.e. 2 chicken breasts) cut into cubes, strips, or shelled as needed
- 1 tbsp canola oil
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 tsp of grated ginger
- 2 tbsp of curry paste
- 1 tsp of fish sauce (it's the Thai equivalent of soy sauce or salt)
- 1 can of coconut milk (shake it well before opening in case it separated)
- 1 teaspoon of brown sugar
- 1 red pepper chopped into bite sizes pieces

If you are dealing with chicken you'll want to saute the meat quickly before you start not cooking it through but lightly browning it.

Saute the garlic and ginger for 30 secs add the curry paste saute 30 more secs breaking up any chunkies.
Pour in coconut milk, add sugar. Stir well to combine and incorporate curry paste.
Add meat and the red peppers chunks.
Simmer for 20 minutes or so. If it's chicken check to see if it's done.

Yes it's supposed to be soupy.
Spoon in over basmati or jasmine race in a bowl.

Simple and fast and tasty.

For a beef curry you can add some finely chopped onion and let the whole thing cook in the slow cooker for a few hours adding large potato chunks about an hour before the end and red peppers 15 minutes out if desired.

Toad in the Hole

An English standard that I grew up with. It's definitely comfort food, not health food, but it's super yummy!

Toad in the Hole by Robert Gibert CC Attribution, Noncommercial, No Derivative works.

Ingredients
"Toad"
6-8 sausages

"Hole" (a.k.a. Yorkshire Pudding)
7/8 cup of flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup mile
1 tbsp melted butter

Fry sausages until cooked - put on papertowel/dishtowel to absorb fat.

Preheat oven to 450F

Sift salt and flour into a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl beat eggs until thick. Combine with milk. Gradually stir milk & egg mixture into the flour. Add melted butter. Beat for at least one minute using a rotary egg beater or whisk. Put some oil, butter or fat into a flat bottomed glass dish (8x10 or 9x9) and heat into the oven. When fat is melted place sausages in the pan and put back in the oven to heat up sausages. When pan and sausages are hot remove pan from oven and pour batter over them. Cook for 20 minutes.

Tips for successful Yorkshire Pudding
Because I could make super fluffy Yorkshire Pud as a kid it became my job to make it whenever we had toad in the hole or roast beef. The picture above isn't my cooking, it is however a darned fine example of fluffy Yorkshire Pud. Here are some of my secrets:

• Beat the mixture with a rotary egg beater or a whisk - electric blenders just don't get enough air in (I was a lazy kid - if I used the manual method it was because it worked!).
• For super fluffy pud let the mix sit for 5-10 minutes then beat again for a minute. No idea why but this makes for a fluffier final product.
• Get your pan super hot before you add the batter.

Spaghetti and meatballs

So I haven't progressed to making my own pasta (yet) so this should be titled "Meatballs (to have with your spaghetti) with optional sauce (you can just use stuff from a jar if you choose)" but that's a REALLY long title.

We were so eager to eat I forgot to take a picture. This was Brian's lunch the next day.

A few years back I set out on a mission to make The Best Meatballs EVER. I had some ideas at the beginning: I wanted to make them small not giant and something more then just meat in ball form. But that was it. So I pulled up a bunch of meatball recipes and started testing. A bit from this one. A bit from that one. And after a while I got the hang of it. And I've settled on a recipe that gets raves from my friends. It feels good to hear: "I love your meatballs!" or "You're making meatballs? can I come over for dinner??" So I think I've done it. And here it is in all it's glory: Amy's Meatballs (with optional sauce instructions).

Meatballs:

Combine the following in a large bowl. Get your hands in there (wash them first) and work that egg and dry stuff into that beef.

1-2 lbs of extra lean ground beef
1/4 cup of finely chopped onion
~2/3 cup bread crumbs per pound of beef
1 cup of fresh grated parmasen or romano cheese (must be fresh... none of that dry stuff from a shaker)
1 egg per pound of beef
1-2 cloves of garlic
generous teaspoon of each oregano and basil
a few twists of the pepper and salt mills

If the mixture seems too dry (sometimes the bread crumbs can dry it out) add a splash of milk.

Form the beef mixture into balls, rolling them between your hands to make them firm. I make them just less than an inch in diameter. Bite size. This makes lots! Place the balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (so they don't stick after). They don't spread like cookies but keep them seperated. This stages is referred to as the Meat Cookie stage. Bake for 10 - 15 min at 350F.

Add the balls to finished sauce and let simmer for 20 minutes (at least).

Optional Sauce Hints

So you can take the easy road and get your favorite basic tomato and basil tomato sauce. But I find jarred sauces just not right so I usually start with a good quality basic tomato sauce from an Italian delicatessen or bakery (the kind that comes in a skinny jar) and fine tune it.

Start by sauting 1-2 cloves of garlic in olive oil add a few tablespoons of finely chopped onion (you can set some aside when you make the meatballs for this).

Add a large can of crushed tomatos or a jar or two of that basic tomato sauce.

Season with basil (and oregano if you so choose).

Allow to simmer stirring occasionally for 30 minutes.

If it's too runny you can add some tomato paste.

Give it a few twists of the pepper and salt mills.

Taste it. Aciddy? yeah... add a pinch of brown sugar. Stir well. Taste again. Repeat adding a small amount of sugar. Shouldn't need more then two pinches depending of the volume of sauce and the type of tomatoes and your own taste buds.

And here's my last hint: Make the sauce the day before and allow to cool and sit in the fridge over night and then reheat when you make the meatballs.