Hello There Friends!
How's your summer treating you so far? Ours is just about to begin. I just KNOW the rain will stop soon!
So this post is all about grilling. We had an EPIC, I mean completely out of this world supper the other night and it inspired me to pass it along. I kid you not, as we sat down at the table together, The Bean looked at her plate, took her first bite and said: "I feel like we're in a RESTAURANT!" Yeah baby. That's what I'm talking about...It was easy, tasty & pretty healthy actually so keep reading if that sounds like it's up your alley.
As you know we eat pretty veg-heavy round this house, but not exclusively. So I don't want people getting all turned off that this is a vegetarian supper. Trust me, I'm not totally veg or healthy all the time either. In fact, last weekend at the local fair I ate a burger and fries (ok, all of my fries and the Bean's too) like the future of the planet was on the line. "You mean the world WON'T explode if I eat all of this?! Ok then!" But maybe you'll consider a night or two a week that doesn't revolve around meat. It feels good, trust me.
The inspiration for the first part of the meal came from the newest edition of Vegetarian Times, love that magazine. HEY! Don't stop reading! It's good, I promise!
Have you ever had a dish called Bulgogi? It's a Korean barbecued beef dish that is literally one of the tastiest things you can ever eat, if you eat beef. Thinly sliced steak marinated in a soy sauce-brown- sugar-garlic-ginger concoction and then lightly grilled, melts in your mouth. So when I saw in Veg Times a recipe for Seitan Bulgogi' I was pretty stoked to try it. Now listen, don't get all uppity about eating tofu. We have only recently become converts chez nous, and if you prepare it right, it's amazing; not mushy-yucky-poopoo tasting, I promise. To be clear, this isn't like the Beef Bulgogi of my dreams. Tofu isn't beef, so that's stretching it. But it's a damn fine stand in, and totally delish. True Story: I slapped the Beans Hands away from the plate of Tofu Bulgogi the other night when she tried to grab a 7th slice of the stuff. Back off kid! Mama needs Bulgogi!
I made a few changes to the VT recipe, namely because I didn't have any Seitan(not a huge fan yet), but I did have a brick of firm tofu so I used that instead.
Tofu Bulgogi
Ingredients:
-1 Brick of Firm Tofu (not silken!)
-1/4 cup low sodium veggie broth
-2 TBS Agave (or brown sugar)
-1 TBS Sesame Oil
-1 TBS Rice Vinegar
-1 TBS Grated fresh ginger (I buy the bottled stuff, but you can peel & grate to your heart's content)
-4 TBS Minced garlic
-Ground Black pepper to taste
-2 Green onions, chopped
Directions:
1.Set your brick of tofu on it's long edge & slice it along the narrow edge, slices should be about 1/4 inch thick. Place on a paper towel, and another paper towel over top to drain a bit.
2.Combine all the other ingredients and whisk together.
3.Set tofu in a baking dish in a single layer and pour the marinade over it. Marinate as long as you can- 2 hrs or more, and flip the slices over every once in a while to make sure they soak up as much of that heavenly sauce as possible.
4.Light the barbecue and when it's good and hot, clean off the grate & oil the grill. Don't want to lose any tofu to the grill. Reduce the heat a bit so you don't burn the food.
5.Place the tofu slices on the grill and brush with a bit of the marinade. Cook a couple minutes on one side and flip, brush with marinade again. Let them cook a couple more minutes, or more depending on your barby. The finished tofu should be firm, a little crispy on the outside, and the marinade carmelizing a bit...heaven...
So with that fine dish we also enjoyed grilled sliced sweet potatoes, asparagus, and red pepper, as well as a couple of beets roasted in foil in the oven and topped with goat cheese right before serving. A bit eclectic, but whatevs. I just threw the veggies (not the beets) into a zippie with some garlic-balsamic-evoo-pepper-rosemary marinade and then threw them on the grill. No, not in the bag, sheesh.
The beets were simple but amazing: scrubbed too large beets (peeling beets is for suckas. And people who like pink-stained fingers), placed in foil, drizzled with evoo & a bit of pepper/salt, wrapped them up and baked them at 400 for an hour. They're also the gift that keep on giving; I just ate the last half of one of those bad boys on bed of baby arugula and topped with goat cheese for lunch.
If beets aren't something you're used to eating, I might pass along a little piece of advice. How can I put this delicately? Let's just say after eating beats, the next day or whatever, if you have a bit of a shock in the restroom, fear not, you do NOT have internal bleeding. It's just that the beets are really, er, red. Ok? Nuff said.
And moving right along! That's all for now. Hope you like this little menu and I'll be back again another time, hopefully in the not to distant future. Have a great weekend!
xoMelissa
