Week 15: Tofu Friend Is Not an Insult

I’m a tofu friend. When I was first given that label I thought it meant I was a health fanatic like, “crunchy” or “granola”. I thought it was ironic because I didn’t even like tofu at the time.

When I asked my friend to clarify what she meant by “tofu friend”, she told me that like tofu, I blend well with most flavors… Flavors of people that is.
For a split second, I wasn’t sure it was a compliment, but I’ve come to realize it’s a quality I’m happy to have and in fact, have always had.
When I was in high school I could comfortably hang out with the potheads, artists, drama kids, athletes and honor roll students.

This realization disconcerted me at first…

• Am I not a strong enough personality to have my own flavor?
• Do I adapt my needs to readily others?
• Am I a people pleaser?

If you’re reading this, and you know me, you’re likely smirking, because the answer is “NO worries … My personality has plenty of flavor on its own!” I am after all an Irish/Italian/Taurus and there’s no getting around that.

My mother was one of the strongest personalities I’ve ever known. Sure, because of her obesity, her presence was large,
but beyond that, so was her energy, her engaged mind, her laughter and her opinions.
But she too had a tofu side… blending well with others in a way that made them feel welcome, accepted and comfortable.
This leaves me thinking that maybe when your personality is very strong and clear, you feel comfortable enough to take on the flavors of others because there’s no fear of jeopardizing your own identity… I suppose that’s a deeper blog post.

Why am I talking about tofu?
Because I finally learned to enjoy eating tofu and I added it to this week’s recipe to create a one bowl vegetarian meal.

Original Recipe

The process:
Thrilled to finally find a good vegetable recipe in my mom’s collection, I jumped on this one because I need to eat more spinach to deal with muscle cramps.
Combining spinach, pine nuts, garlic and Italian seasoning on its own sounds perfect so I opted to remove butter and Parmesan cheese.
What about the anchovies?  They’re often added for that unique salty flavor, but I can’t stand anchovies and I wanted to keep it vegetarian. Like I’ve done with previous recipes, I used Miso to substitute. Miso adds a salty flavor with a little sweetness and additional health benefits of a fermented food.
I almost forgot the nutmeg in the recipe, but at the last minute grated some from the fresh nutmeg seed… It really is an important addition and completely changes the flav0r profile. Who knew pine nuts, garlic, nutmeg, and oregano would work so well together.
The addition of tofu was a last-minute idea so that it could become a one bowl meal. If you don’t like tofu or are not vegetarian, this would also work with chicken or white fish.

So I know about tofu… I have never really liked it, but I have grown to enjoy extra firm tofu that’s been marinated and I cook it almost to the point of being crisp on the outside.

The results:
I will definitely make this again. I get frustrated by how much spinach reduces, but I can see myself making a large batch to eat for a couple of days. Except for the pine nuts, which were kind of an extravagance, it’s a nutritious and affordable recipe for families. You could likely substitute toasted walnuts for the pine nuts and create a similar flavor.

If you give the recipe a try, let me know what you think.

Sauteed Spinach and Pine Nut Tofu Bowl

Ingredients:

1 pound of organic baby spinach
2 cups of firm tofu cut into cubes
2 tablespoons pine nuts
Approximately a quarter cup of olive oil in total
1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of miso
1 clove garlic (more if desired)
1 tsp oregano or Italian seasoning
Fresh nutmeg seed for grating or a pinch ground nutmeg

Directions:

• Drain the tofu and cut it into cubes
  Marinate in ~ 3 Tablespoons of  olive oil, oregano, and fresh garlic for approximately one hour
• Dry roast the pine nuts in a saute pan until you can see the oil, smell the nutty aroma and they are slightly brown.
  Do not burn.
• Sauté the tofu cubes in the olive oil and garlic until browned or even crispy
• Sauté spinach in olive oil until fully wilted.
• Drain excess fluid from spinach and return to the pan
• Combine olive oil and miso into a paste and mix it into the spinach over medium heat
• Gently stir in pine nuts
• Top with TOFU

 

 

NOTE: I just realized while posting forgot the I forgot the raisins….I’ll try it next time 🙂

Week 15 Recipe Pick: Pizza Gana
I have no idea who Albert Famglietti is 😉

My mother served this for Easter brunch and tomorrow is Easter…So I’ll give it a shot. Alex and Jenny (my son and his girlfriend) are vegetarian and they’re coming for dinner….so I’ll give it try