November 13, 2014
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I’m on the hunt for some yummy and easy recipes. I usually throw veggies into the pan and stir-fry them with sea salt, pepper, olive oil and some herbs and serve with pasta, quinoa or rice and a protein like tempeh or tofu. When I first had Vivian friends dropped off some yummy dinners for our family such as veggie lasagne (thanks Liz Libre) and the ingredients for assemble-your-own soft tacos (thanks Linsey Laidlaw). Having prepared food in the fridge makes life so much easier. You can just grab it, heat it up and serve.
Last night I went to my favorite event of the month, articles club. We talked about these articles: On Cooking for Others, Why I’ll Never Cook Again and What If You Just Hate Making Dinner? They inevitably led to scintillating conversations about our familial food histories, motherhood and guilt, how we run our own family’s meals and our tips and ideas for fast family dinner. So I thought it would be fun to share some recipes with each other and get some ideas cooking (both literally and proverbially).
I want simple recipes with less than 5 main ingredients, preferably stuff we might already have in the fridge. I’m hoping for pretty healthy ideas with a protein (as I’m a vegetarian). I can’t wait to hear the club’s ideas. If you have any you’d like to share please do so (on your own blog and leave the link here in the comments or just share an outside link).
One of the article’s club girls works for Apartment Therapy and touted their site The Kitchn. I definitely plan to do some hunting and gathering there. Do you have a favorite site for simple, yummy, healthy recipes?
Here’s my mom’s Crispy Tofu with Sesame Asparagus or Green Bean recipe:
A coating of panko is the secret to these ultra crispy tofu triangles. A delicious sweet and tangy dipping sauce accompanies the tofu… 4-6 (4 as a meal or 6 as a snack )
Ingredients:
- extra firm tofu
- 3/4 hoisin sauce
- 4 Tb seasoned rice wine vinegar
- 3/4 tsp. Asian chili garlic sauce
- 2 lg eggs
- 4 tsp Asian sesame oil
- 2 cups panko
- 1/2 c cornstarch
- 5 TB corn oil
- 1 lb. asparagus or green beans (trimmed)
- sesame seeds
- salt
Prep:
- Slice the tofu crosswise in half and then on the diagonal so each piece of tofu yields 6 triangles. Arrange triangles on thick layers of paper towel and put paper towels on the top and press out the water.
- In a small bowl make the dipping sauce. Whisk hoisin, vinegar and the chili sauce..set aside.
- In another bowl beat the eggs with 2 tsp sesame oil and 1/2 tsp salt. Put the panko and the cornstarch on large pieces of waxed paper. Dredge each triangle of tofu in the cornstarch, shaking off the excess then in the egg mixture and then in panko, setting the triangles on a plate as you finish each one.
- Heat 1/4 cup of the oil in a large non stick skillet over med high heat. When the oil is hot add as many triangles as fit into the pan and cook turning once until golden and crisp. abt 2 min per side. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate and sprinkle lightly w. salt.
- Wipe out the skillet add the remaining Tb of oil and return to med high. Add the asparagus or green beans (that the campers have snapped the ends off) and cook 3-5 min. Add the remaining 2 tsp sesame oil and toss. Sprinkle w. sesame seeds.
- Serve the tofu with the dipping sauce on the side.
(author’s note: We recently did the same recipe but instead of pan frying the tofu, we baked it in the oven and it was still very yummy…just not as crispy.)
Above is one of my food illos (done for Stella Magazine).
