Tofu Lettuce Wraps

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!  The luck of the Irish is not with me today, in spite of the fact that my heritage is Irish and Welsh.  Nope, just wrote almost this entire post and then accidentally erased it (darn you insert photo for being near the new post button).  I realize this could be corrected by doing this in a word format, and then possibly copying/pasting, but I’m not sure how the format will work from one source to the other.

I’ve been meaning to post this for a while now, and had hoped to get another recipe or two up, but based on the fact that I just had an hour of work erased, I’ll be lucky to get this one up.  With the help of some sangria, I’ll be lucky if this isn’t riddled with typos, but at least those will be fun to make!

One of my favorite things about these lettuce wraps is the filling usually lasts for 2 days.  On the second day I like to add broccoli and some crushed peanuts and serve over rice.  It makes it seem like you’re eating a whole new dish instead of leftovers.

For some of the ingredients used you will have to visit the “Ethnic” aisle of the grocery store.  We use the Hokan brand for the Five Spice powder, water chestnuts, and Hoisin sauce and we use the San-J brand of soy sauce.

Tofu Lettuce Wraps

Prep/cook time:  Combined total of about 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 block extra firm Tofu (we like the Marjon brand)
• 3 cloves garlic
• 3 1/2 tsp Five Spice Powder, separated into 1 1/2 tsp and 2 tsp.
• 1 bunch scallions (also known as green onions)
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 can water chestnuts
• 1/2 cup matchstick carrots
• 1 1/2 Tbsp vegetable or peanut oil
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 2 1/2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
• 2 1/2 Tbsp Hoisin Sauce
• 1 head Iceberg lettuce

Optional Ingredients for Topping

• Peanut Sauce
• Asian Hot Sauce (Thai Kitchen or Sriracha)
• Cilantro
• Fresh Lime Juice

Tools

• Cutting Board
• Knife
• Glass casserole dish
• Skillet
• Cooking Spatula

What To Do

1. Preheat oven to 275.
2. Drain tofu.  Tofu is usually packed in some water.  For this dish, you do not need to remove all of the water.  Just drain the water from the package, and lightly squeeze the tofu to drain additional water.  You can do this by pressing the tofu between your palms and alternating sides along the cube.
3. Cut the tofu cube in thin slices along the width, like so:
4. Take half of the “loaf” and cut in thin strips.
5. Cut into small squares and place in the glass casserole dish.
6. Repeat step 4 and 5 with the other half of the tofu, and put the casserole dish in the oven for about 20 minutes.
7. While the tofu is cooking…
8. Clean and dry vegetables.
9. Remove paper from garlic and mince finely.  Place in skillet.
10. Prep scallions by cutting off the stems and the top 1/4 inch of the greens.
11. Remove the whites from the greens.  
12. Discard any part of the greens that are limp, and remove any outside layer of the whites that is fibrous or looks dirty.
13. Dice the whites into small rings and add to the skillet with the garlic.
14. Slice the remaining greens into thin rings and set aside.
15. By this time, it’s probably been 20 minutes since you put the tofu in the oven.  Remove the tofu (keep the oven on) and sprinkle 1 1/2 tsp Five Spice Powder over the tofu.
16. Use the spatula to stir the tofu to make sure it gets well coated with the Five Spice Powder.  You may need to scrape the pan to help stir all of the tofu. Once the tofu is stirred, and coated with Five Spice Powder, return it to the oven.
17. Now, take the red bell pepper, and cut along the outside of the green stem (you’re cutting into the red pepper).
18. Then, flip the pepper over, and cut straight lines, separating the pepper into the different segments (most will have 3-4 segments).  The pepper I used has 3 segments.
19. Pull the segments apart to expose the seeds.
20. Remove the seeds and any of the whiter skin on the interior.
21. Cut the bell pepper by removing the curved top and bottom.  Cut the majority of the pepper in strips.
22. Dice the smaller pieces of red pepper and set aside.
23. Open the can of water chestnuts and drain the water.  Dice the water chestnuts into small pieces.  Set aside.
24. Take the matchstick carrots and cut smaller.  I recommend doing this by placing the carrots in a small pile on your cutting board.  Cut in 2 sections one way, and then do a crosscut with 2 sections as well.  Set aside.
25. Prep your lettuce by washing and draining.  You can either cut the stem out of the lettuce, peel the leaves off, or use my preferred method of hitting the lettuce just next to the stem on the counter edge, and pull the stem out.  I recommend placing the prepped leaves in a bowl and sticking in the fridge until the dish is ready to serve.
26. Add oil and crushed red pepper to the skillet (with the garlic and scallions) and heat on medium heat.
27. Let this saute for about 2 minutes, stirring / tossing consistently.
28. Add red bell pepper, carrots, water chestnuts, remaining Five Spice Powder and ginger, and stir.
29. Remove tofu from the oven (turn the oven off, now), and put in the skillet.
30. Add soy sauce and hoisin and mix thoroughly.
31. Remove from heat, and stir in scallions.
32. We like to serve this dish by putting all the ingredients on the table and building them as we go.  If you’ve never built a lettuce wrap before, you take a small amount of filling and put in the “cup” part of the leaf.  Top with your preferred sauce, and fold the sides in like a burrito.  Keep lots of napkins nearby for this one!

And enjoy!

Hearty Potato Tofu Bake

We’re having a bit of a cold front here in Florida (which I realize is downright balmy in other states – I moved here 5 1/2 years ago from Minnesota), so here’s a good one to make for the colder days.  We’ll make this hearty dish one day and reheat the leftovers for a day or two.

Prep Time: about 30 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 5 red potatoes
• 1/2 red onion
• 4-6 (about 2/3 oz.) garlic cloves
• 1 package of Marjon Grilled Tofu (or another brand or protein)
• 1/4 teaspoon (tsp) dried Sage
• 3/4 tsp dried Thyme
• 1 tsp dried Rosemary
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons (Tbsp) Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 tsp Salt (hold 1/2 tsp aside for a later step)
• 3 Cups (approximately 5 oz.) broccoli florets
• 1 Cup (approximately 2 1/2 oz.) matchstick carrots
• Optional Suggestions for Toppings:  Shredded Cheddar Cheese and Sour Cream

Tools

• glass casserole dish
• cutting board
• knife
• mortar and pestle
• strip of foil (to cover casserole dish)

What To Do

1. Clean potatoes.  You can use a scouring pad to help with scrubbing.  I’m a little OCD so I also will use a knife to cut out some of the deeper eyes.  Carl assures me these are fine to cook, but hi!  OCD!  If I even suspect that there’s dirt stuck in those parts I’ll cut that out.    I also cut off any bruises.

2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

3. Dice potatoes into bite sized cubes.  The best way I’ve found to do this is to cut the potato in thick discs, then take half of those (putting the largest disk and stacked up to end of potato) on the cutting board and cut one direction, and then do a perpendicular cross cut, like this:

4. Put the diced potato chunks in the casserole dish as you cut them to keep space on the cutting board.

5. Now it’s time to cut up the onion.  We had half an onion in the fridge from a previous dish.  We go through onions on a regular basis, so we often have some left over from a meal we’ve made earlier in the week.  If you’ve never cut up an onion before here are some tips:

• Have a candle burning nearby to help avoid uncontrollable bawling.  Unless you like being a drama queen, then apply lots of mascara first.
• Cut the bottom of the onion off (the roots), and cut the top of the onion off.  Remove the first few outer layers of skin.  You want to pull off any skin that is dry and papery or not uniform in color.  When you get to the layer of skin that is uniform in color and a nice shiny/firm skin, you’re at the sweet spot.  I usually run this under water at this point to help reduce the fumes/tears.
• Setting the onion on one of the flat sides (from where you cut off the roots or top), cut the onion in half from top to bottom roots).  You can wrap up the half you aren’t using, and it will stay good in your produce drawer until you get back to it later in the week or two weeks.  Don’t believe that nonsense story on Facebook about how onions cause food poisoning or how onions absorb viruses from the air.  They’re both lies.

http://www.snopes.com/food/tainted/cutonions.asp http://www.snopes.com/medical/swineflu/onion.asp

You should be left with something like this:

6.  Cut the remaining half of the onion using thick slices.

7. Then (just like the potatoes) take half of the stack placing the halfway point (thickest slice) on the cutting board.  Now you’re going to make a radial cut (like you would slice a pie).

8. Layer the onion (separate any chunks sticking together) on top of the potatoes in the dish.

9. Next, dice your garlic.  We’ll do this the same way we did it for the Cappelini Pomodoro.  Prep your garlic cloves by cutting off the tips and removing the paper, then cut in thin slices and with a crosscut.  After that cut the pile repeatedly until you have minced garlic.

10. Spread the garlic over the potatoes and onion in the dish.

11.  Now is time to cut up the tofu.  For this dish we recommend the Marjon Grilled Tofu, but I don’t know if this is something you can find outside of Florida.  If you already eat tofu, make your own changes on this recipe by adding your favorite.  We prefer extra firm varieties, and if you can find the Marjon brand it is fantastic.  Their website in case you want to check them out or learn more about them is here (http://www.marjonspecialtyfoods.com/index.php).  It is not recommended to use silken tofu for this dish.

Remove the tofu from the packaging, and cut by stacking the two pieces together, cutting across the length and followed by a cross cut.  Your diced tofu should be about the same size as the potatoes.

12. Layer the tofu on top of the potatoes, onion and garlic in the casserole dish.

13.  Now it’s time for the herbs!  Put your measured herbs into the mortar (the base part) to grind with the pestle (crusher – or magic wand!).  Your herbs when you first put them in:

Then you’ll use the pestle to grind them.  Why?

• Because grinding the herbs down releases more of the oils in the herbs and makes them more fragrant and delicious.
• Because breaking down the herbs creates a bigger surface area – the smaller the pieces of something, the more flavor they will imbue into the dish.  This also makes it easier to get the full flavor from the herb combination into each bite.  If you don’t do this, you might notice the flavors vary from strongly of rosemary on one bite to very sage-y on another bite.
• Because smaller pieces are easier to chew and break down when you’re eating.

Using your pestle, apply pressure and rotate around the mortar on the herbs.  It helps to do this in the middle and on the edges.  When you’re done, the herb mixture should look like this:

14. Sprinkle 1 1/2 tsp onto the mix in the casserole dish.  Hold the remaining 1/2 tsp to the side (you can keep it in the mortar).

15. Drizzle olive oil over the mix.

16. Sprinkle 1 1/2 tsp of salt over this:

17. Mix this combination and cover with foil.  Place in oven to cook for 15 minutes.

18. After 15 minutes, take the dish out, stir the ingredients again.  Your potatoes might stick a little, just scrape this up with your spoon.  This will give delicious crunchy parts when you’re eating it.  Recover the dish, and put back in the oven for another 15 minutes.

19. Prep your broccoli.  For this dish we use pre-cut broccoli, since this dish does not use the stalk from the broccoli.  We usually grab the Eat Smart! pre-cut and packaged broccoli in our produce section at the store.  The first step to prepping your broccoli, is cutting off the majority of the stalk so you’re just left with mostly florets:

20. Next, cut the florets down until they are about half the size of the potato chunks.  You can cut along the stalk by putting the floret down on its top on the cutting board, and cut the stalk in quarters from the stalk up through the floret.  You should have something like this when you’re done:

21. After the dish has cooked for the second 15 minute interval, remove from the oven.  Stir the mix that has been cooking (again with those crunchy bits), add the broccoli and carrots (carrots require no prep since they are matchstick), sprinkle on the remaining salt (1/2 tsp) and remaining herb mixture (1/2 tsp).  Do not stir the combination. Re-cover the dish with foil, and cook for the final 15 minute stretch.

22. Serve the dish as is for vegans…

… or offer shredded cheddar and possibly sour cream for vegetarians.

Enjoy!