Ben's Special Tofu, adapted

David's son Ben makes a dish he calles Ben's Special Tofu. He stir-fries soft tofu with a variety of mushrooms and tops it with hoisin sauce. At some point we made that dish, though I'm not sure I posted it here.

Tonight, David is out of town and I had a plethora of fresh spinach grown right here in the North Country to eat up. Ben has always said that his tofu dish could use some veggies. This was great!

I made a sauce using
2 T sherry
2 T soy sauce
2 T sesame oil
2 T hot sauce
2 T hoisin sauce
I put some of the sauce over the tofu and let it marinate for about 10 minutes (longer would have been better).

Then, I chopped up bunches of mushrooms and an onion, and stir fried them until they were well-cooked. I took the tofu out of the marinade and added it to the pan. I returned the marinade from the tofu to the bowl with the rest of the sauce and added 1 t of cornstarch to thicken it when it hit the heat. (You could never do this if you were marinating meat, but with tofu there's no danger of disease.)

I trimmed the spinach and cut off the tough ends. When everything else was cooked, I added the spinach and cooked just long enough for it to combine with the other ingredients. I poured the sauce over the top, stirred a couple of times, and then shut off the heat. I served this over quinoa and have enough left-overs for a couple nights of being home alone!

March 25, 2012: A Three Part Dinner

The recipes in this three-part dinner come from three sources: A package, my Mom, and our last Community Supper at St. Barnabas.

Pan-Fried Tempeh
If you are not familiar with Tempeh, you should try it.  It's made of fermented soy beans. I tend to think of it as tofu's uglier, but tastier cousin! You can do many different things with it. Our favorite way to eat it is in a simple pan-fry.
1/2 package of tempeh, cut into strips (for 2 people) (The package instructions say 1/4 inch, but mine tend to be a bit thicker. I get six strips out of 1/2 package.)
1 T olive oil
1-2 T soy sauce
1. Heat olive oil and soy sauce in a medium size fry pan.
2. Place tempeh strips in, one of the wide sides down.
3. Saute for about a minute, then flip over (You want to do it this way, as the tempeh will absorb the soy sauce and the oil, and this gives the liquid a chance to absorb on both side. I neglected the first time, and I had half dark/half light tempeh.)
4. Continue to saute, first one side, then the other, until lightly browned and heated through, about 5 minutes.

Pan-fried Zucchini
Yvonne and Larry made this at our last community supper and I was so enchanted with it that I've made it three times since!
1 Zucchini per 2 people
1 T olive oil
spices of your choice
1. Halve the zucchini, first the short way, and then the long way, and trim off the ends.
2. Rest each quarter of the zucchini on a cutting board, and trim a thin piece off of the outer side of the zucchini. When you are done, you should have four thick planks of zucchini.
3. Lay the zucchini, one wide side up, on the cutting board. Season as you like. (I've done this now with salt, pepper, and then either garlic powder, middle eastern spices, curry powder, or basil, depending on the dish.)
4. Heat oil in a medium sized fry pan over medium-high heat. Place zucchini, spiced side down, and fry for 3-4 minutes, until the bottom caramelizes. While it's frying, repeat the spice process on the now exposed other wide side.
5. Flip and fry 3-4 minutes on the other side.

Vegan Creamed Spinach
This recipe is one my Mom used to make with milk. It was lovely subbing in soy for the milk. This is a great way to deal with spinach that may be getting past its prime, as was our case this night!
1 pkg baby spinach
1 small onion, chopped
a pinch of salt
1 T flour
roughly 1/2 c plain soy milk
2 T olive oil

1. Heat the olive oil in a large fry pan over medium high heat.
2. Add the chopped onion and a pinch of salt.
3. Saute until soft, roughly 5 minutes.
4. Sprinkle flour over onions/oil and stir to combine.
5. Add spinach and sauté until the spinach starts to cook down, 2-3 minutes, usually.
6. Pour soy milk over the spinach and stir until combined and heated through.