Appetite for Destruction - #2
10 Minute Veggie meal
As I was pondering the evening meal while riding home I thought I would use up that brick of tofu that had been sitting in the fridge for a week. I am an ovo-lacto vegetarian about 80% of the time so this is no surprise that I end up eating on the veggie side. I mean, I love meat. I looooove meat, but what I like above all else is good meat and that adjective doesn't always come with the meat at any supermarket. I am fortunate enough to live right near a terrific butcher but even there sometimes it sucks. In any case, it is cheaper and healthier to eat vegetarian, if done well.
As the rebel that I am, I thought, since I am doing the hippie thing tonight with the tofu and all, why not listen to probably the most urban music as possible: electronics. Here came out the Drill n' Bass of Squarepusher. Tom Jenkinson is probably my favorite electronic artist of all time and his Go Plastic album was the spark that made me a fan. This is a guy that is a bass virtuoso, yet he spends most of his time behind machines making the most incredibly fast, catchy and rhythmically challenging electronics ever. In the pantheon of Drum n' Bass, Aphex Twin might be up there but for me, Squarepusher is light years better.
So the idea was to grill some tofu, with a bit a flavouring and have a good, filling side dish. I had bought a humongous sweet potato the day before that was that. This was going to be a quick cooking affair so I prepared and cut all my vegetables, tofu and seasonings first and started putting stuff on the stove. First, the sauteed sweet potatoes
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, peanut or canola works
2 large sweet potatoes, cut in 1/3" wedges or approximation thereof.
2 cloves of garlic
¼ cup of water
2 tablespoons of Louisiana hot sauce
salt and pepper to taste
Put the oil in a large non-stick skillet, over high heat. Add the sweet potatoes. Don't move them too often as we want them to brown. Move the wedges about every minute and a half or so to make suure all of them are browned on both sides. Reduce the heat to medium and add the garlic. A minute after, add the water and the hot sauce to the pan and let the liquid evaporate moving things around every few minutes. Once the liquid is all evaporated, set aside, salt an pepper.
Grilled tofu
Quarter cup of Soy Sauce
1 hot pepper or more to taste, minced (hot sauce works too)
1 tablespoon of honey
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil, peanut or canola works
1 tea spoon of Chinese Five Spice
1 pound block of firm tofu, sliced 1/3" thick
3 slices of old cheddar
Simply mix together the soy sauce, the oil, the five spices, the minced hot pepper and the honey in a mixing bowl. Once uniform, dip the slices of tofu in the mixture and press a bit on it so that it drinks a bit of the marinade. Throw on a high heat grill or, like me, over high heat on a griddle pan. Turn over regularly, about every minute, as the tofu tends to stick to the grills. Cook for a total of 3 to 4 minutes on each sides. Remove from heat and place a slice of old cheddar on top so that it can melt on top.
I served the tofu and potato with a grilled corn which I think you can manage on your own. If you want to make it extra big, mince a clove of garlic with two tablespoons of mayo, salt and pepper and serve with that. Keep the remaining garlic mayo for tomorrow's sandwiches. I basically cooked up the full brick of tofu here, and I doubt you will eat that much, keep the rest of the tofu for salads, sandwiches and it can easily be reheated without losing flavour. If you can marinate longer than I did, marinate away, it will make it even more flavorful but 24 hours should be the maximum.
- Simon Thibaudeau | 2006-09-14
