Curried tofu and mixed vegetable salad

This salad is both warm and cold, soft and crunchy, and bursting with flavor. It makes a great main dish when served with another salad and hearty wheat bread. Followed up with a nice cheese and then a couple squares of dark chocolate, the meal seen here is perfectly balanced and purely healthy and satisfying. All of the fresh ingredients seen in the picture come from either my mom's garden, Nezinscott farm in Turner, Maine, or Josh and my own's garden. Vive l'automne for healthy eating!

Cube half a block of firm tofu and half a large summer squash. Heat a generous amount of olive oil in a non-stick pan. Add the tofu and summer squash with about 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric, a teaspoon of curry and salt and pepper to taste. Sautee over medium-low heat until just browned and set aside.

In a large salad bowl, mix a large garlic clove, minced, with about a teaspoon of salt. Add a generous tablespoon of fresh squeezed lemon juice (or vinegar if you don't have a lemon). Mix well, and then add two generous tablespoons of olive oil.

Peel and chop two large carrots into thin rounds. Half peel, quarter and chop a cucumber. Thinly slice a very small onion (about 1/8 to 1/4 of a cup).

Strain and rinse half a can of red kidney beans.

Add all the ingredients to the salad bowl and stir to cover with the dressing. Add a generous handful each of fresh chopped parsley and basil and mix again.

Tofu and Carrot Sautee

I have never been a huge fan of tofu. In fact, I have always thought it was quite disgusting. Josh likes it, and because it is a source of protein, I prep it sometimes to include in dishes simply for its protein content. The other day, however, I made a discovery: small pieces of tofu fried up in oil in a non-stick teflon pan is quite lovely. So lovely, in fact, that Josh and I ended up eating the first batch I made as a simple appetizer! The difference was the pan, which I just bought recently in my efforts to cook the perfect Julia Child's omelette. The non-stick pan allows for a more crispy, browned top, something I've never been able to achieve by frying the tofu in my cast iron pans, the only kinds of pans I owned until just recently. So, with salt and some cumin, the result of tofu cooked in the non-stick pan is a slightly crispy, lovely nugget of flavor. As an appetizer served with toothpicks or in this dish, it's great!

1. Half a block of firm tofu, cut into small cubes
2. 1 large clove of garlic, minced
3. About 2 tsp fresh minced ginger
4. Half an onion, cut into small pieces
5. 5 or 6 small carrots, peeled and cut into small pieces
6. Half a can of black beans, drained
7. Rice

Sautee the cubed tofu in a tablespoon or so of olive oil, sprinkling with salt and cumin to taste as you go. Use a wooden spoon to stir occassionally and shake the pan so that all sides of the tofu (or at least a few of them) turn a golden brown. Remove to a bowl, add a bit more oil to the pan and sautee the garlic and onion until translucent. Add the carrots and cook only until just tender. Add the black beans and cook until hot.

Serve over rice for a delicious, healthy meal!

Curried brussel sprout greens with tofu

Over the last few weeks, we've been watching the vegetables in our garden grow. The brussel sprouts in particular have bloomed beautifully, their dark, bluish-green leaves reaching for the sky. When we were out there yesterday evening, Josh wondered out loud if these leaves couldn't be eaten much like beet greens or collard greens. A quick search on the internet later and we had our answer: yes, they can!


Here's what you need:
About 15 young brussel sprount leaves, stems snipped and sliced thinly
1/2 small onion, sliced thinly
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 block firm tofu, cut into squares
Salt, pepper, curry powder
Cream
A couple handfuls of pistachios

Fry the tofu in olive oil over medium-low heat, turning over occasionally, until the pieces brown. Remove from the tofu from the pan and reserve. Lower the heat and sautee the onions and garlic for a few minutes. Stir in a good tablespoon of curry powder and salt to taste and cook a few minutes more. Add the greens and stir to coat with the oil. Raise the heat to medium-low again and cook until soft, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Add the pistachios and stir. Cook for about 5 more minutes then remove the greens and nuts from the pan and reserve with the tofu. Drop the heat to low and pour some cream into pan, perhaps about a half-cup. Heat through and add the tofu and greens back to the mix. Stir and allow to cook for five more minutes or so.

Serve hot on brown rice for a hardy, healthy meal. This recipe rocks. Seriously.