Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Gingered Greens with Tofu


I visited with an old friend tonight...my soy sauce splattered copy of Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home. When the Monster and I first lived together, high up in our little nest in the trees (read: sweetest ever garage apt. in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Austin), I was totally perplexed by the idea of cooking meat. I didn't know how, it kind of skeezed me out, so I didn't do it. The Monster might grill stuff from time to time with the neighbors, but in our tiny kitchen, nuh-uh. We collected just about all of the Moosewood veggie cookbooks and I used those pretty much exclusively. Oh the days before internet recipe searches...
It's been ages since I'd cracked one open, much less made one of our old standbys. Due to the ease of accessing a vast array of goodness online without a doubt. Tonight, I was feeling nostalgic.
For those old days, in our tiny counterless kitchen, cooking up a tried and true Moosewood recipe for just my sweetie and me.

Gingered Greens and Tofu:
(Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home)

Tofu Marinade:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup dry sherry (use a drinking sherry...not a salty cooking sherry)
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 Tbs brown sugar (or agave nectar!)

2 cakes of firm tofu (I used an organic brand from Costco that came in a 19 oz pkg...one was plenty)

2 Tbs canola oil, divided
2 Tbs grated fresh ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
6 cups coarsely chopped bok choy, Chinese cabbage, or Swiss Chard, packed (I used two beautiful bunches of Swiss chard...I used to make this with bok choy, but I don't really like it anymore)
Juice of one lime
2 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro
pinch of cayenne, or splash of chili oil

Optional toppings: toasted cashews, gomasio, Sriracha sauce

Put on a pot of long grain brown rice.
Cut the tofu into 1/2" slices, then ~1" squares. I press them at this point between layers of paper toweling and under several heavy baking sheets while I'm getting everything else together (~20 min). The original recipe didn't call for it.
In a small saucepan, bring the marinade ingredients to a boil. Simmer for 1 minute and remove from heat.
Place the squares of tofu in a non-reactive heatproof pan (I use a glass lasagna pan).
Pour the marinade over the tofu squares, sprinkle with one Tbs of oil, and set aside for ~10-40 minutes.
Preheat the broiler on high.
Broil the tofu for 7-8 minutes, until lightly browned; then turn it over with a spatula and brown the other side.
While the tofu broils, heat 1 Tbs of canola oil in a wok or large skillet.
Stir in the ginger and garlic stiring until fragrant (~1 minute).
Add the greens, stirring constantly over high heat until the greens are wilted. When the greens are just tender, add the lime juice, cilantro, and cayenne or chili oil, and remove from heat.
When the tofu is browned, gently toss it with the marinade and the cooked greens, and reheat if necessary. Top with toasted nuts if you like (I totally forgot about these, but did use Gomasio and Sriracha sauce), and serve immediately over brown rice.

2 comments:

Beth said...

I made these last night. Verena LOVED the tofu! I used a combo of chard and beet greens because that's what I had to use up. Also used some wheat berries from the freezer since I couldn't find our rice cooker pan... I went a little overboard with the lime juice, but it was still pretty tasty. I'll have to make this again.

Erndog said...

Glad she liked it Beth. :-)