Fun With Carbs

Before...

The best thing about this experiment has been the feedback from friends and readers. Who knew so many of you were into vegetarian cooking and eating – even occasionally? Even legendary meat lovers (hi, Dave’s Cupboard!) have come out of the woodwork to admit they like tofu.

The fun part has been searching for recipes and inspiration online. For Tuesday dinner, I looked to Twitter friend Katie’s blog, The Small Boston Kitchen, remembering that I’d seen several delicious-looking meatless options on there when I first started following. (Katie and her boyfriend, Richard, also run The Skinny Beet, a catering/private chef service in the city.)

With a bunch of leftover cooked quinoa from Monday’s dish sitting in my fridge, I lit upon Katie’s Quinoa Veggie Meatball recipe. I followed it as closely as possible, with a few substitutions: leaving out the mushrooms (I still can’t get into them,) the pine nuts (I had some in my cupboard, but couldn’t locate them quickly enough) and using Swiss chard for spinach. I didn’t have a fresh red pepper on hand, so I sauteed some frozen bell pepper strips from Trader Joe’s.

I also threw in a tablespoon of minced garlic and left out the rosemary. The oregano was key, though, adding a little extra infusion of Italian flavor. Basil or marjoram (fresh or dried) would have been great, too.

After.

I had my suspicions about the outcome. Would they be bland? Mushy? Dry? Overly crunchy?  Would I miss the meat? But I should learn to just sit back and enjoy, because these were fabulous. With a basic Trader Joe’s tomato basil marinara, the “vegballs” were more hearty, moist and subtly spiced than I ever expected.

I served mine in spaghetti-and-meatballs fashion, with a side of roasted broccoli. Katie served hers on a grinder roll with marinara and mozzarella, but suggested making smaller veggie balls as a potential party appetizer. I think that’s an excellent idea.

This recipe is certainly open to customization, and it’s a great way to pack tons of vegetables into the mix. I predict this will be a frequent staple in our kitchen from now on. Thanks, SBK!

I’m not exactly a type A personality. You’d recognize that immediately if you saw the disarray of my closet. But I do have this annoying perfectionist tendency, where I feel like giving up if I can’t do something right the first time. And in the kitchen, sometimes that means bailing on ingredients or techniques.

And sometimes that means I get frustrated too easily. Remember the ciabatta, which turned out to be a blockbuster? I was about to go the same route with tofu tonight.

Starting out with an extra-firm block, I drained the tofu and then pressed it to remove more of the moisture. I must have pressed too hard, because the center of the block crumbled inward, and there went my visions of cutting perfect domino-sized slices for my stir fry.

But after a little research, some Twitter crowdsourcing (and if we’re being honest, some creative brainstorming for obscene tofu-related epithets) I was able to slice the remaining intact section of the block. To drain it further, I placed the slices between two cutting boards, with a paper towel to sop up the water, topped with a heavy frying pan for weight.

It worked well, and the drier slices later pan-fried beautifully in a little vegetable oil. Once the tofu finished cooking, it went into an amazing soy sauce marinade with fresh ginger, lemongrass, garlic and shallot. I really love the way tofu soaks up flavor.

Served atop quinoa with steamed broccoli and red pepper (and sauteed mushrooms for Rob), it was quite the surprising success.

That doesn’t mean my pre-Thanksgiving craving for a burger has disappeared, though.