What if I bake a piece of tofu in white wine for my vegetarian?

[hedgehog]

I was thinking of using this recipe except with tofu:

4 salmon steaks, 1 inch thick
3/4 c. dry white wine
1 tbsp. chopped onion
1/4 c. heavy cream
2 tbsp. butter (or butter)
2 tbsp. Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard

Arrange salmon in shallow baking dish. Add wine. Bake in preheated 450 degree oven 20 minutes. Remove salmon to serving platter. Keep warm. Pour fish liquid into large skillet. Add onion, cream and butter. Boil, stirring until reduced by one half. Mix in mustard. Serve salmon with sauce. Serves 4.

Is there a topping that would go well, like sharp cheese? She eats dairy.

[The empressof all]

1. Do you normally tofu?

I personally would recommend you freeze the tofu then slice it before you cook it. It will give it a "meatier" texture. I'm not a tofu expert by any means but I do know there are a few tricks that will give you a better result. I've also heard that pressing all the moisture out of it with a heavy weight can also help. I don't know.

I probably would use the sauce you described with potatoes and celeraic as a gratin rather than go into the tofu...but then tofu kind of turns me off for the most part unless it's mixed with really strong flavors.

[MagickMuffin]

2. As a vegetarian myself I'm not sure about the tofu

I've been using a lot of the soy products by Morning Star.

Their Soy Chicken is an excellent product. I have used it in Pot Pies, Fajitas, and have even fried it up just as though it was fried chicken strips.
Perhaps you could use your recipe with the soy chicken strips.

Tofu is a strange beast in how it is prepared. I would think you would have to get a very firm/hard tofu to make your recipe. I also think the sauce above would work with the tofu. Hubby suggest freezing the tofu (as it would grill/bake better) wash it, press it, and drain out as much water as possible, then wrap it in tin foil, shiny side to tofu, poke tofu before baking with the wine.

Hope this helps somewhat:hi:

[The empressof all]

3. OT: Have you tried the Asian Burger?

I LOVE the Morningstar Farms Asian Burger. In fact I eat one almost every day with some shredded cabbage and shiritaki noodles. I reminds me of an egg roll. I use the Morningstar farms products quite a bit and I'm not even a Vegetarian. I love their products.

[MagickMuffin]

5. I haven't but hubby has

He didn't really care for it. He probably just ate it on a burger bun.

Your idea about the shredded cabbage and noodles sounds good.

[hippywife]

8. We absolutely love

the MSF chik'n nuggets, either plain or buffaloed with some good bleu cheese dressing, or even in Thai peanut sauce over rice. But for non-breaded, I always go for the Quorn Naked Cutlets. They make awesome chik'n sandwiches for our lunches and are great cut up in a pot pie.

Hiya, Muffin. :hi:

[Warpy]

4. While freezing tofu does alter the texture

and make it a little firmer, the texture becomes distinctly sponge like after baking in a sauce.

What I generally do when I'm going to sauce a tofu dish is press the tofu, slice into strips or "steaks," dust with corn starch, and pan fry until crisp and light brown. I do the saucing just before serving to maintain a little of the crispness as long as possible.

An alternate method would be to dredge the tofu in a mixture of half and half cornmeal and Parmasean cheese and pan or deep fry. For some reason, that combo gives a slightly fishy flavor to the tofu and the breading becomes very crisp. Even tofu haters like it this way.

The only thing you might want to do with the sauce is start with a light roux so that it thickens on top of the stove.

[sandnsea]

6. Check that salmon after 10 minutes

20 minutes seems a bit long, especially at 450.

[hippywife]

7. I'm pretty much in Warpy's camp on this

with one addition. Marinate the tofu cutlets or "steaks." I have marinated it in smaller pieces in a vinaigrette and roasted it til crispy on the edges for a mushroom tofu stroganoff and it was pretty tasty that way.

I would just place the whole block (extra firm variety) in a colander over a small bowl to catch the liquid. Put a saucer over it and sit a large can of something on it (not as heavy as a can of juice, maybe a large can of tomatoes size.) Let the liquid drain for about, oh I dunno, an hour. Then slice it into cutlets and place it in the fridge in the marinade. Use maybe a glass cake pan, something flat and kinda shallow so you have maximum marinade to tofu contact on all surfaces.

I then usually dredge mine exactly as I would if I were frying chicken...egg with a little milk, then flour, pepper, garlic, Lawry's mixture, and fry in the skillet til golden on both sides. We usually just eat it like that but I think a sauce, spooned over it when plated as Warpy suggests, would be wonderful, too.

But definitely don't skip the marinade, otherwise you'll only have flavor in the coating. That's no good.

Good luck and enjoy!

Oh, and here's the mushroom tofu stroganoff if you want to prepare that instead. It's from the Whole Foods Cookbook with a few modifications, of course. LOL It really is delicious. I'm a meat eater and I really do enjoy this dish. Crave it sometimes, even.

Mushroom Tofu Stroganoff

1 lb. extra-firm tofu, cut into 1" cubes
1/2 c. vinagarette (their recipe or your favorite)
Marinate the tofu in the vinagarette for 30 minutes.

3 TBS. olive oil
1/2 lg. onion, chopped
1/2 c. burgundy wine
1 lb. white button mushrooms, sliced 1/4" thick
2 lg. portabellos, diced
3 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce
3/4 c. oat or soy milk
1 tsp. pepper
2 bay leaves
1 tsp dried thyme or 1 TBS fresh

Preheat oven to 450. Remove tofu from marinade and place in a backing dish. Roast tofu for 20 mins, until lightly brown, and remove from oven.

Heat olive oil over medium-low heat in a large saute pan. Add the onion and cook slowly until nicely bfowned, 20 -25 mins. Deglaze pan with the wine as the onion cooks to prevent the onion burning or getting too brown. Add the button and portabello mushrooms and saute 1 to 2 mins, until they are limp. Ad the milk, tamari, pepper, bay leaves and thyme. Simmer about 10 mins, allowing mixture to thicken slightly. Add the tofu and heat the stroganoff through. Remove bay leaves and serve.

******

That original recipe is vegan but I did some minor modifications in that I only used 8 oz. of button mushrooms (I sliced them and then cut the slices in half,) instead of 3/4 c. of soy milk I used 1/2 c. sour cream and 1/4 c. soy milk, and I added a dash of worchestershire sauce (oops! anchovies!.) Also when I put the mushrooms in the skillet, I added a 1 1/2 TBS. butter. It wasn't thickening up the way I thought it should so I mixed up a little cornstarch and added it. I also cut the tofu into squares not cubes and roasted for 1/2 an hour instead of just 20 minutes. Came out perfect! It rivals any beef stroganoff I've ever eaten. Since tofu absorbs flavors and doesn't add flavor to anything, I reused the vinegarette (olive oil, wine vinegar, lemon juice,basil, garlic, salt, pepper) that I marinated the tofu in as the dressing on a green salad so no waste.


Hope he enjoys it however you decide to prepare it. :hi:

[wildeyed]

9. If you want something quick, try "scrambled" tofu.

Saute onion and red pepper in olive oil. At the end add tumeric (nice yellow color) and paprika or curry. Drop in cube of tofu and mash until it has a scrambly texture. Add a clove or two of grated or pressed garlic, fresh herbs, spinach, soy sauce, salt, pepper and whatever else takes your fancy. I love it with reconstituted shitake mushrooms.

It is an easy and tasty recipe, better than those grilled recipes cause the flavor and spices gets to all parts of the tofu.