the basic tenets of successful baked tofu

Oh, hells yes, Dear Reader, we are now about to talk seriously and long (not THAT long) about baked tofu. Though i cannot see you, I trust you by your IP address to be a tofu lover, or at least liker. I eat that stuff raw. Fresh. Love it. Quick, satisfying. But when I need to make a sandwich, I bake it.

To prepare the tofu, squeeze some water out by wrapping it in a paper towel and squeezing until water drips out, but please, take care not to get it too far out of shape. Slice the tofu into little filets (I cut the block in thirds, then cut each of those thirds lengthwise into four pieces. But triangles or whatever are also on the table.) Then you want to get some sauce onto that stuff.

From what I can tell, to make a nice baked tofu sauce, one must mix about a tablespoon of oil with about 1/2 a cup of other things. The oil can be canola, sesame, chili, or whatever you kids are into these days. And as for the other things? The sky is the limit. Soy sauce is pretty standard, but also please take a moment to consider other speadables. I made a highly delicious batch using my classic stir-fry sauce: sesame oil, dijon mustard, maple syrup, and soy sauce. Just now I made a batch that was sort of Thai-inspired: a tiny bit of sesame oil, chili oil, peanut butter, shrimp paste, fish sauce, and soy sauce. I wish I had added some Sriracha sauce. Alas! But thus is baked tofu: even with regrets it's still pretty totally awesome. Making a baked tofu sauce is a follow-your-heart type situation. Dijon mustard is terrific. Also I think it would be good to use barbeque sauce.

Dip the filets of tofu into the sauce, thoroughly covering both sides. Finally, put it onto a baking sheet or something and pop it into the oven for a while. I recommend: an hour at 400 degrees. 425 for a crunchier exterior. And then? And then you've got some baked tofu on your hands, my friend.

Quinoa Salad with Tempeh

While this dish isn't much to look at, it's totally yummy and tastes like the best kind of comfort food. As with most Mark Bittman recipes, we had to modify it quite a bit, and this recipe reflects an entirely different kind of dish - it probably shouldn't even be called a salad, it's definitely got more of a porridge consistency. It's just as good, though different, without the scallions and cilantro.

1 cup raw quinoa
1 or 2 T. vegetable oil
8 oz. (1 package) tempeh, crumbled
1 T. minced ginger
1 T. slivered garlic
1 can diced tomatoes
2 T. rice wine vinegar
1 T. dark sesame oil
1.5 T. soy sauce (or more, to taste)
.5 T. sriracha or chili-garlic sauce (or more, to taste)
1/4 c. chopped scallion
1/4 c. chopped cilantro

- cook the quinoa: boil quinoa with 2 c. water and a pinch of salt for about 20 minutes.

- heat the oil in a skillet over medium high heat. when hot, add the tempeh and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp, about 10 minutes. stir in the ginger and garlic and cook for another minute or two, then add the tomatoes, stir, and turn off the heat. stirr in the vineagar, sesame oil, sriracha, and soy sauce. Toss with quinoa, scallions, and cilantro.

classic sickness-fighting hot toddy

yeah, it is now getting to be that time of year when people get real sick. colds, sore throats, the flu; nasty times are ahead as the seasons start to change. luckily all these conditions have a cocktail that goes great with them! the hot toddy. yum.

not just for warming up at the ski lodge, hot toddies have... medicinal properties. yeah... medicinal... properties. i guess there's some vitamin C in the lemon, and honey is healthy for vague reasons, i've heard. (antioxidant?) no, j/k, it's totally an old-school quack thing. tell yourself whatever you want, it's the alcohol makes you feel better!

the hot toddy is simple. i feel stupid blogging about it at all but the picture turned out nice so here we are.

in the bottom of a mug, place:
1 T. honey
one lemon slice with two (2) cloves stuck into it
as much brandy as is necessary to make you forget what ails you (1 1/2 oz. is standard)

then you just gotta pour some really hot water on top of that, stir it up a bit, and drink it down. it has a really nice soothing flavor because of the cloves. now drink yourself well!

tunisian chickpea soup

This dish is simple in a way that is sort of insane. It's a total one-person, one-pot pantry soup. I adapted it from Nick Kindelsperger, who adapted it from The Well-Seasoned Cook, who adapted it from Global Gourmet (who, by the way, claims it to be a breakfast soup.) The laptop was dying so I didn't do the research then. But apparently in cooking parlance, "adapted" is a polite way of saying, "ripped off." I didn't like how Nick used red pepper paste-- to me, harissa is one of those desert island spices that I could not live without, and using red pepper paste seems like ripping the heart out of the recipe.

14 oz. (one can, or equivalent) chickpeas
1 1/2 T. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. harissa
salt to taste

In a large saucepot over medium heat, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Throw the onion in and cook until translucent. Add the garlic and fry for 2-3 minutes. Then, add everything else. I know, right? Bring it to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for half an hour.

The recipe(s) also suggest a number of garnishes one may use. We used sour cream and cilantro and it was great.

black dog gelato

we had been reading about this black dog gelato all over the place and couldn't wait to find a restaurant where we could try it ourselves. on sunday morning, after leaving the wicker park farmers' market, we stopped into this new italian deli under the blue line tracks, cipollina for an iced coffee. we were pleasantly surprised by their interesting selection of artisan meats, cheeses, pastas and drinks, but even more pleasantly surprised about the long list of black dog gelatos and sorbets that they carry! we had to try the sesame fig chocolate chip gelato, because we couldn't figure out how they were going to pull off sesame in ice cream. after eating the full dish, we've decided that she's using sesame oil, but only a tiny bit because it really blends well with the other flavors and doesn't take over, like sesame oil likes to do. we're excited to try making our own version at home!

zucchini bread with ras el hanout

we've been getting all sort of delicious zucchinis and squashes from Rob (the organic farmer with whom we have a CSA arrangement and about whom, incidentally, we absolutely cannot stop talking - he makes our life wonderful and we adore him) and have been meaning for a while now to make some bread out of them. unfortunately, after scouring each and every one of our standby cookbooks, we couldn't come up with anything more interesting than your standard cinnamon-cloves-cup-and-a-half-of-oil recipe. and then we found this one. like it was meant to be. we adapted a little, but really, she's great. she does great things, this woman. the ras el hanout doesn't overpower the bread like we thought it might - it adds a wonderful spiced flavor, more interesting (but not abrasively so) than traditional zucchini bread spices. next time we might try it with an indian curry instead of the ras el hanout.

when it comes to bakeware, we use silicone almost exclusively, and this saves us a lot of hassle with things like breads and cakes of the steps of buttering and flouring our pans. my mother, who has been baking for coming up on half a century, can't seem to get her head around silicone bakeware, as she never expects it to be hot after spending time in the oven and is constantly burning her fingers as a result. if you can manage to stick with oven mitts, we encourage you to try out silicone bakeware to save yourself a few extra steps.

Zucchini Bread with Ras el Hanout
Adapted from 101 Cookbooks

makes 2 loaves

bowl 1:
1.5 c. chopped walnuts
1/3 c. poppy seeds
zest of 2 lemons

bowl 2:
1/2 c. unsalted butter
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
3 eggs
2 t. vanilla extract

3 c. grated zucchini, skins on, with as much of the moisture squeezed out as possible

bowl 3:
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 c. bran
1 c. minus 3 T. all purpose white flour
3 T. wheat germ
1.5 t. baking soda
1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 t. cinnamon
1 T. ras el hanout

preheat the oven to 350°F.

combine the ingredients of bowl 1 and set aside.

use a handmixer to beat the butter until fluffy. add the sugars and beat again until the mixture comes together and is no longer crumbly. add the eggs one at a time, mixing well and scraping down the sides of the bowl between each addition. beat in the vanilla. (bowl 2).

fold the zucchini into bowl 2 until well mixed.

combine all ingredients of bowl 3. add bowl 3 to bowl 2 in 2 batches, stirring between each addition. fold in bowl 1, saving about 2 T. of mixture to be sprinkled on top (this will create a nice crust after baking.

divide the batter between 2 loaf pans, then sprinkle the remainder of bowl 1 on top. bake for about 40-45 minutes on the middle rack. cool in pans for about 10 minutes then turn out onto wire racks.

the bread will be very crumbly if you try to cut it while it's still warm, but it's definitely worth it!

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