Summer Squash with Tofu and Balsamic Roasted Shallots

New England summer staples

The season:

There’s a lot of “I can’t wait for fall!” giddiness going on this week. What gives? Yes, the cool morning air is refreshing and it’s been nice digging out a few lightweight long sleeved tops for layering, but for the love of god, people, let’s stay focused.

It’s still summer. It’s gorgeous out. Let’s embrace it.

Nothing says summer in New England more than zucchini and summer squash, crayon-colorful and absolutely ubiquitous this time of year. Cook it up with a little EVOO, garlic, red pepper flakes and fresh thyme and you’re in business – add pan-friend tofu with a side of balsamic roasted shallots, and you’ve done your summer staple proud.

The dish:

Roasted shallots add an unexpected touch of sweetness

This easy vegan entree comes together in four simple parts. First, put 1 cup of brown rice on the stove and let cook for about 45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 and grab your:

Balsamic Roasted Shallots:

• 8-10 large shallots, peeled with ends removed
• 1 TBSP balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp EVOO
• Salt and pepper
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme

Pan-fried tofu:

• 1 block extra firm tofu, pressed and cubed
• 1 TBSP EVOO
• ½ tsp red pepper flakes
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• Sea salt to taste

Summer squash, zucchini & sliced mushrooms:

• 3 small summer squash, sliced at ¼ inch thickness
• 3 small zucchini, sliced at ¼ inch thickness
• ¾ cup white mushrooms, sliced
• 1 tsp EVOO
• Pinch red pepper flakes
• ½ tsp fresh thyme
• Sea salt and pepper to taste

Begin by peeling the shallots and trimming the ends. Arrange all shallots on a large cookie sheet and drizzle with balsamic and EVOO. Sprinkle with sea salt and place the thyme evenly across the cookie sheet. Cover with tin foil and roast at 400 for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove the tin foil and thyme sprigs, and continue to roast for another 15 minutes, or until the shallots are evenly browned.

While the shallots are roasting to perfection, pan-fry your tofu in 1 TBSP EVOO over medium heat. As tofu begins to brown, after about 5-7 minutes, add the red pepper flakes and garlic, stirring often to make sure the garlic doesn't burn. At the 10 minute mark, add sea salt and cook for another 2-3 minutes, or until desired crispness.

And for the squash, grab a large frying pan and heat the EVOO over medium. Add the squash and mushrooms, stirring often until they start to soften. After about 5 minutes, add your red pepper flakes, sea salt and pepper. If your squash is sticking to the pan at all, add a splash of veggie stock or water. When the squash and mushrooms are soft but still firm, about 8-10 minutes in, add a sprinkling touch of thyme and remove from heat.

Serve over a scoop of brown rice, piling your squash on first, followed by the tofu and shallots. If desired, garnish with fresh thyme. 

Pineapple Fried Rice

Sweet and salty on a Sunday night 

  

The Sunday:

Sunday usually calls for a take-your-time recipe. Something challenging or never-before-attempted. Some new vegan inspiration you can put together at your leisure, learning along the way.

Make your own Pineapple Fried Rice! It'll be amazing.

Well, most Sundays go this way. But not all.

If you’re frantically planning your own wedding (like me, omg), the notion of overpriced takeout delivered to your doorstep takes on a whole new allure…even on the most sacred of stay-at-home cooking days. 

But no, no! Sunday kitchen time, you will be mine. And so will you, Pineapple Fried Rice, aka Takeout 2.0.

The Recipe:

This dish is such a treat – juicy pineapple, salty cashews, and loads of vegan color from carrots, peppers and peas. It’s a feast for the eyes as much as the belly.

And it’s so simple! Sometimes it’s intimidating to attempt restaurant recreations – we feel we’ll be downgrading a dish, creating a lesser version of professional kitchen classics.

But not here. Cast off those doubts and create your own Thai-inspired vegan entrée. For your Pineapple Fried Rice, you’ll need:

• 1 ¼ cup brown Jasmine rice, cooked (& cooled in the fridge if you have time)*
• 1 TBSP EVOO
• 1 leek, sliced (white and light green part only)
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 pinch red pepper flakes, to taste
• ½ tsp ginger, freshly grated
• 1 ½ tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp coriander
• ¼ tsp turmeric
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced
• 2 carrots, bias cut
• ½ cup frozen peas
• ⅔ cup pineapple, cubed
• ⅓ cup cashews, roasted and salted
• ¼ cup vegetable stock
• 2-4 tsp Tamari or soy sauce, to taste
• 2 scallions, sliced for garnish

In a large frying pan, heat your EVOO on medium and add leeks. Stir leeks for 3-4 minutes, until soft. Add red pepper flakes to taste, ginger, curry, coriander and turmeric. Stir gently to coat the leeks with your spices, 2 minutes. Next, add the red pepper, carrot, peas, pineapple and cashews. Stir to incorporate and then add your vegetable stock. Cook for 5-7 minutes. As veggies soften, add the rice and 2 teaspoons tamari. As you incorporate the rice, taste test for your tamari – adding in small increments until it’s just right. Top with scallions and serve!

If you want some extra sweetness, toss in a handful of raisins with your veggies. My fiance has a raisin-hangup, otherwise, I would have included them here!

*Leftover or cooled rice works wonderfully in fried rice, but freshly cooked rice will be fine, too.

 

Garlicky kale with sesame tofu

Tofu + greens = power team 

The protein:

My highly versatile, hugely yummy sesame tofu

Tofu – it’s pretty polarizing. Meat-eaters mock it and even among vegetarians, there’s not a clear consensus. While some are worried about the alleged health risks associated with soy consumption, other are worried about, well, making it taste good. 

It’s not the easiest to prepare, after all. Making the most of your tofu involves pressing it to remove excess water and then developing a recipe chock-full of flavor for the tofu to absorb. The quality* (i.e. price) of your tofu is also a factor in where your meal registers on the deliciousness continuum.  

Then, of course, there’s your preparation method – baking, frying, stir-frying, steaming. Where to begin? What on earth to do?

You bake it up sesame garlic style, as I did for this epic salad, and then you move on with your life. 

The power:
  
Yet you’ll surely run up against some follow-up questions, namely: now what? What do I do with a pan of perfectly browned sesame tofu?

When in doubt, my friends, go for garlic + greens. Sautéed kale, spinach, or collards work wonderfully here. Sliced mushrooms bring a mild meaty flavor, where your yellow peppers bring crunch and color.

You’ll need:

• 1 cup brown rice, cooked
• 1 large bunch kale, roughly chopped
• 1 yellow pepper, sliced
• ¾ cup mushrooms, sliced (white or Crimini variety)
• 1 small onion, sliced into half moons
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1-2 pinches red pepper flakes, to taste
• 1 TBSP EVOO
• 1.5 TBSP toasted sesame oil
• Sea salt and pepper, to taste

If you're tofu-ambivalent, try it sesame style over garlic greens!

Heat the EVOO on medium and add the onion. Cook for 4-5 minutes, adding garlic and red pepper flakes once the onion softens. Cook for 1 minute before adding the yellow pepper and mushroom. Stirring often, cook the peppers and mushrooms for about 4 minutes. 

Finally, toss in the kale and stir to incorporate. You may want to add a drizzle of EVOO or a few splashes of water or veggie stock to create some stream. As your kale turns bright green, after about 4-5 minutes, add a generous hit of sea salt and pepper. Finish up by turning off the heat and adding a light drizzle of toasted sesame oil. 

Prepare your bowl with couple heaping spoonfuls of rice, a generous layer of steaming kale, and as many pieces of tofu as you deem reasonable. Yes, it’s fantastic, but you don’t have to eat it all in one sitting – it holds up in the fridge just fine. 

* As a Connecticut native, I’m hugely fond of The BridgeTofu, out of Middletown, CT. Living in Boston, I’m lucky to still have access to The Bridge’s handmade tofu, even if it retails at about 2x the price of store-brand varieties.

Brown Rice & Sesame Tofu Salad

A Heaping Plate of Vegan Grains and Greens

The Dilemma:

Me: “I would love a salad for dinner tonight!”

Fiancé: “………uh huh..”

Don’t get me wrong, my fiancé (aka Jeremy) loves him some vegan cooking. Lord knows he eats enough of it. But sometimes my veggie dreams don’t speak to him so seductively. An occasional meat and prolific cheese eater, my sigo is a sort of convenience vegan, enjoying the meals I prepare but by no means inclined to choose tofu over chicken when left to his own devices.

And his own devices are…ravenous. A salad, usually, will not suffice.

So last night, when I declared myself salad-ready, the silence set in. Nothing…nothing…no comment…and then a polite little “uh huh.”

Little did he know that my signature Brown Rice & Sesame Tofu Salad was in store. Uh huh. That’s right.

The Recipe:

Hello, gorgeous!

I invented this salad in my late college years, right around the time when my sister and I would frequent the Lady Killigrew Café and Bookmill in Montague, MA. It was there that I had my first taste of warm brown rice over crisp greens, a combination so compelling I had to replicate it in my own kitchen. Yes, you have to juggle a few moving parts to pull this salad together, but it’s oh-so-worth it!

For sanity’s sake, approach this recipe in three parts: the rice, the tofu and the veggies.

For the rice, you’ll need:

• 1 cup sweet brown rice
• 2 cups water
• Dash of salt

Place the water, rice and salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down as low as it will go and cover. Cook for approximately 40 minutes or until all the water is absorbed.

As the rice is cooking, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cut your block of tofu into slices or squares and set pieces into a marinade of:

Flip the tofu slices about halfway through baking
to brown evenly on both sides.

• 1/4 cup tamari
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 TBSP toasted sesame oil
• 1 TSP freshly grated ginger
• 1.5 TSP pressed garlic
• ½ TSP red pepper flakes
• 1 TSP sesame seeds

Allow the tofu to marinate for at least 30 minutes and then spread on a cookie sheet. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until browning occurs, flipping each piece at the 15 minute mark.

Now, onto the veggies. While there's tons of room for experimentation here, some of my staple veggies include:

• ½ yellow bell pepper, sliced into long strips
• 4 radishes, sliced
• 1/3 red onion, sliced into thin rings
• 1 carrot, coarsely grated
• 5 cherry tomatoes, quartered
• ½ avocado, sliced
• 4 cups arugula, loosely packed

The Finale:

Cindy's Kitchen vegan-
friendly dressing

Once your rice and tofu have cooked and your veggies are prepped, simply spread a bed of lettuce and go to town with your toppings.

And no Brown Rice & Sesame Tofu Salad is complete without my all-time favorite dressing: Deeply Roasted Sesame by Cindy’s Kitchen. Not only is Cindy’s Kitchen a local shop, hailing from Brockton, MA, they offer a huge selection of vegan dressings and marinades, all unbelievably fresh and flavorful. If my Brown Rice & Sesame Tofu Salad were on a dessert island, Cindy’s Roasted Sesame dressing would be its singular survival item.

It, like me, can’t do without.