meatless monday: veggie mapo tofu

in

From the New York Time's cooking section: the vegetarian version of mapo tofu. I love the traditional Chinese dish Mapo Tofu (which I made last year) ...but without ground pork? It's different, but actually spicier with more depth of flavor. Shitakes replace the meat and I used a fermented black bean sauce not actual fermented beans but otherwise followed the recipe as is. The meatless dinners are hard--more work, less filling. But this was hearty enough, with a thickened sauce served over quinoa which weasled its way into the stew. Such a goody-two-shoes, know-it-all that quinoa.

a new kind of pasta sunday

in ,

Yesterday when we awoke at 5:45am, we learned that our pasta sunday date with the Gessers was cancelled and thus there were 18 hours left in the day to spend alone with the kids. We quickly rescheduled pasta sunday -- with the Remis. Pasta Sunday actually made a lot more sense with these guys since 1. they can cook and 2. Bev was our inspiration for our new pasta attachment maker which I've just started to practice with--more on that later. And she is a Pasta Master so she demoed her technique for me.

 

For my part I made a sauce using what was in the fridge (leftover from the fish I made last week) and also highly influenced from that dish.

Ma Pa Broccoli Rabe

  • 1 bunch broccoli rabe, washed and chopped
  • 1/2 lb ground pork
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1/4 cup wine
  • 1/2 lb firm silken tofu cut into 1/4 inch squares
  • 2 cups broth
  • 1 can diced tomatoes
  • 1 lemon squeezed
  • 1 tbsp cream
  • 1 cup parm cheese
  1. Blanch broccoli in salted boiling water for 5 minutes then shock in ice bath.
  2. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil over low heat and cook garlic for 3 minutes. Add pork and cook over med-high until cooked. Add wine to deglaze.
  3. Add tofu and mash until creamy.
  4. Add tomatoes, broth, lemon juice, salt and pepper
  5. Cook for 45 minutes, stirring. Then add cream and cheese.

my ma-po

in

Last night I continued our week of healthy dinners with Mark Bittman's Ma-Po Tofu. Bittman's premise is that a little meat goes a long way so he suggests more tofu and tomatoes than ground pork. (The traditional dish is fairly heavy with ground beef and also more complicated with chile paste and fermented black beans.) I doubled the recipe below and probably added a touch more ground pork that suggested. I also added a tablespoon of cream to bring out the creaminess of the tofu; and of course a squeeze of lemon. Served over Soba noodles, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. Super simple and hearty, and more or less healthy.

Simmered Tofu With Ground Pork (Ma-Po Tofu)

  • 1 tablespoon peanut or other oil
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1 tablespoon minced ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, plus more to taste
  • 1/4 to 1/2 pound ground pork
  • 1/2 cup chopped scallions, green part only
  • 1/2 cup stock or water
  • 1 pound soft or silken tofu, cut in 1/2-inch cubes
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • Salt to taste
  • Minced cilantro for garnish, optional
  1. Put oil in a deep 10-inch skillet or wok, preferably nonstick, and turn heat to medium-high. A minute later, add garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes, and cook just until they begin to sizzle, less than a minute. Add pork, and stir to break it up; cook, stirring occasionally, until it loses most of its pink color.
  2. Add scallions and stir; add stock. Cook for a minute or so, scraping bottom of pan with a wooden spoon if necessary to loosen any stuck bits of meat, then add tofu. Cook, stirring once or twice, until tofu is heated through, about 2 minutes.
  3. Stir in the soy sauce; taste, and add salt and red pepper flakes as necessary. Garnish with cilantro if you like, and serve.