Thursday, April 07, 2011

lemon-soy tofu baked with mushrooms, capers and green olives

Mediterranean flavors, minimal effort
Ding, dong the book is done. After 2 years of cooking-testing-writing, it felt liberating to finally cut the proverbial umbilical cord and watch the cookbook manuscript fly solo into cyberspace as I hit the "send" button. So, what do you think I did to celebrate? Indulge in happy hour cosmos? Go out to dinner? Buy myself some cool Lush stuff? Nope, I ....yawn!.... created another recipe. It's like a habit, at this point.

Lemon-Soy Tofu with Green Olives, Capers and Mushrooms
Salty olives and soy sauce. Sour lemons and capers.  Earthy mushrooms. This easy, Mediterranean-inspired dish features flavors for every palette and only takes about 20 minutes of hands-on time. I ate mine served on a bed of garlic-infused spinach, but I could also see serving it over a whole grain, like farro or kamut, cooked in veggie broth, or with a nice green mâche salad.

  • 1 T extra-virgin olive oil [I recommend Bertollu Fruttata]
  • Juice of 1 lemon, or about 3 T
  • 1 T soy sauce
  • 4 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1 pound extra-firm tofu, drained and cut into 4 steaks
  • 10 ounces of cremini, shitake and/or button mushrooms, sliced
  • 1/2 cup Sicilian green olives, pitted and chopped
  • 2 heaping T capers, rinsed and chopped
  • Lots of fresh, ground black pepper
  • Salt, to taste

Serves 4

  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Pour oil, lemon juice,  soy sauce and garlic into a 9 x 13 glass baking pan. Season with salt and pepper and mix well.
  3. Cut the tofu into 4 steaks. Rub them in the marinade, making sure to coat all sides. [If you're not in a hurry, you can let the steaks marinade in the 'fridge a few hours or overnight, turning occasionally, but this is not really necessary.] Remove the steaks then pour in the remaining ingredients and toss well, to ensure they are evenly coated.
  4. Tuck the tofu steaks under the mushrooms, and bake for 30-35 minutes, flipping steaks once halfway through. Mushrooms should be tender and juicy. Adjust seasonings and drizzle with more extra-virgin olive oil before serving, if desired.







14 comments:

MeloMeals said...

Congratulations! I'm so thrilled that your book is done! I can't believe how fast you did it.

Debra said...

Mmm that looks delicious!

Blessings, Debra
Raw Vegan Diet

Kristyn (getvegucated) said...

This sounds delicious! I just discovered my love for capers since I had only just recently tried them and this is something that I would definitely devour!

Allyson said...

That sounds ridiculously good- so many great flavors going on! Hooray for your new book being finished... cannot wait to see it!

vko said...

Yay!!! Congrats my dearest! You rock and that book is going to rock!! I hope that muhamarra makes it in...so delicious. I love capers anything & this yummy tofu bake looks super yum.

Michalene said...

I love when I find a recipe that uses things I already have on hand. I'm going to make this tonight. Thanks.

Michalene
Kale Chips Blog

vegan.in.brighton said...

Yum, that sounds great, I love tofu & capers.

dreaminitvegan said...

Congrats on finishing your book!
Delicious looking tofu...capers, lemons and mushrooms, yum!

Zoe said...

Wow! That's so good and I want to try it out, perfect dinner for sharing x

C.C said...

Hey! Like your blog, keep the good work up! I'm in to the same healthy enlightened path as you ;) , check out fablefoods.blogspot.com!

Chef Mark Rasmussen said...

Very tasty looking recipe. I love baked tofu and this really looks good! Great combination of flavors.

Kimberley said...

wow, this looks amazing! can't wait to try it! congrats on your book - i look forward to reading it. :)

tofu said...

Yummmy, looks really nice. Great combination of ingredients, tofu, olives, mushrooms and caper.... MMmmm . I can't wait to try it.

Jena said...

This looks amazing and I can't wait to give it a try! Mushrooms and green olives are two of my very favorites!

I'm glad to have found your blog! I'm new to veganism and am looking forward to reading your take on being a vegan in Philly, since I'm just across the bridge in South Jersey!